Signless and Equius
by KatyRebel413
Summary: This is a Homestuck AU where Aradia saves Equius from dying at Gamzee's hand by sending him back in time. This may be highly triggering for some readers. It's rated M for a reason. And, yes, I am @HarleyQuinnOtaku on wattpad.
1. Nightmares

"_I SAID MOTHERFUCKIN KNEEL!" he bellows as he notches an arrow. "honk. HONK! honk. HONK! honk. HONK!" The wretched honking only rises in volume as the Highblood draws the string of the bow, stolen from the blue blood on the ground below, taught and takes aim. "KNEEL!" He screams one last time before letting the arrow loose._

_The pain erupting in the blue blood's knee sends him to the ground screaming. The Juggalo's laughter grows exponentially louder in his approach towards the injured troll. The younger whimpers in pain and fear as his stolen bow is snapped by the elder, the string biting into the sensitive flesh of his throat._

_The cord tightens._

_I can't breathe._

_I try to fight, to rip the bow string away from my throat, but Gamzee steps on my hand. He shifts his weight so that most of it is supported by that leg. He presses down on my hand with as much force as he can manage and-_

_CRACK_

_He crushes my hand and laughs even louder._

_I try to scream but no sound is produced._

_I CAN'T BREATHE!_

_My lungs burn and my eyes water._

_I._

_CAN'T._

_BREATHE!_

"_Leave him alone!" someone shouts._

_Whose voice is that?_

_I know that voice._

_Aradia?_

_Aradia run!_

_Please just run._

_There's a flash of red before everything goes black._

"Shoosh, child," a kind voice says. I'm screaming now. Actually screaming. Strong arms are around me. A gentle hand combs through my long hair. "It was just a bad dream, Equius."

I shake my head. "Where is she?" I gasp out.

"Who?" Signless asks as he tilts my head up to look him in the eye. "Where is who?"

"Aradia." My head whips around, looking for my friend. "Where is she?" I'm breathing fast and hard. Hyperventilating. I'm panicking. "He'll kill her. He's going to kill her. I need to find her!"

Signless holds me tighter, slowly rocking me and running his fingers through my hair. I don't know why, that just seems to calm me down. I've been having these panic attacks more and more often. My wounds are almost fully healed now. The scars left on my neck from the bow and on my knee from the arrow are constant reminders of what he did to me.

The nightmares only show me part of the memory. They refuse to show me what he did between breaking my hand and Aradia sending me hundreds of sweeps into the past, into the time of our Ancestors. The nightmares shield me from reliving Gamzee forcing himself onto, and into, me while I slowly suffocated.

But when I wake, I remember. I remember and I cry in Signless's arms. He never fails to be there for me when I need him. Every time I have a nightmare, he's there to hold me. Every single time. His Guardian, Dolarosa, has tried to help him take care of me, but he refuses. I wish he'd let her help too. He's losing sleep because of me. At least his dreams aren't plagued with memories of what should have been his death.


	2. Visions and Blood

~Signless POV~

I wake the next evening still holding Equius. This is becoming a regular occurrence. He seems to be sleeping peacefully for once. I hate to have to wake him, but we still have a long way to go before we reach our destination. We're close to our next ally. I can feel it.

My dreams are getting more and more vivid. I can almost see the next face in line. The face of my next follower. First was Dolarosa, my Guardian. Then I saw Disciple, my Moirail and devout follower. She has been by my side for half my life. She has recorded all of my sermons throughout our journey across Alternia. Equius was a surprise, I never saw him in my dreams. The next face is still a little blurry, but I know that he's a member of the lowest class and he needs help. I need to help him.

"It's time to get up, children," Dolarosa states in her song-like tone of voice. I didn't realize that I had fallen back to sleep.

I smile up at her, saying, "Okay." Damn, I even sound tired.

"Please tell me you got at least half a day's rest," she says, brushing my bangs out of my face.

"More like a quarter," I reply, rubbing sleep from my eyes. "Equius," I gently shake his shoulder, "time to get up." He groans in protest and buries his face in my chest. I try my hardest not to laugh. He's only a sweep younger than me, but I was forced to grow up so much faster than him. I miss the days when I could outright refuse to get up in the evening and just sleep until midnight. Unfortunately, that isn't an option for either of us anymore.

"I remember when you were that stubborn in the evening," Dolarosa giggles.

I laugh, "Are you suggesting I'm not stubborn anymore?" By now Equius is sitting up and looking down at us, holding back tears. My smile fades and Dolarosa stops laughing. "What's wrong?"

"I miss them," Equius states, just above a whisper. I sit up and wrap my arms around him as the tears escape. "I miss Aradia and Nepeta. Karkat. Sollux. Kanaya. I even miss Eridan."

I catch the sympathetic look in Dolarosa's eyes. There's nothing I can say to help him. We've been through this so many times already. Nothing helps and I hate it. I can't stand not being able to help him. I can't stand that all I can do is just let him cry it out.

And normally I would let him cry it out. But we apparently don't have time for that.

Disciple throws open the flap at the front of me and Equius's tent. "We've got company en route from the forest," she says, panic in her voice.

"Stay here," I tell him. Without his glasses, the fear in his eyes is clear. I rise to leave and make sure our visitors aren't hostile.

But, before I can exit the tent, Equius grabs my arm. "Please don't go," he whispers.

I look to the exit, then back to him. I grab my hood at hand it to him. "Put this on." He dawns the hood and looks back up at me, awaiting further instruction. His irises are still mostly grey but the indigo near his pupils is unmistakable and could get all of us killed. "Keep your head down and stay behind me. Okay?"

"O-okay," he stutters, still obviously terrified.

We exit the tent just as a small group of teal and cerulean bloods make their way past the tree line only a few yards from our small camp. I can smell the alcohol on them and blood on their weapons from here. I step in front of Equius, putting my arm out slightly to keep him behind me. I may not have seen this child in my dreams, but I'll be damned if I let him get hurt.

"Check it out, boys," a small cerulean-blood laughs, obviously drunk. "A camp full of low-bloods!"

"We don't want any trouble," I say putting my right hand up in a show of good faith. "We are just passing through."

They laugh again. "Only one hand?" a teal blood says. "Think you're too good for us to raise BOTH hands in surrender?"

Equius looks around me at our guests. I manage to bring my eyes up from my young companion to meet those of the largest of the group. His eyes show a blue almost as bright as Equius's blood, but still a dull cerulean. He's stalking towards us with a machete dripping with green, yellow, and brown blood. My left hand finds Equius's wrist when I see the blood. These trolls have been on a killing spree. Equius's eyes may show some blue now but they're still grey enough for him to be mistaken for a low-blood.

"We don't want any trouble," I repeat as this blue blood gets closer. He stops inches away from me. He raises his blade to my throat. I don't even flinch. This isn't the first time I've had a weapon beg for my blood. "Do you really wish to spill my blood with a child as a witness? Or are you too drunk to care?"

"I don't give a fuck about a filthy low blood child!" He shouts in my face. Equius reaches up and grips the blade tight enough to draw blood before I can stop him.

"I bleed indigo and you are threatening my guardian," he growls. I glance down at him in time to see him remove the cloak, I specifically told him to keep on, revealing his sign, Sagittarius. His sign is one of the Zodiac signs. A high social rank is his birth right, even among his fellow indigo bloods.

The older blue bloods back away as he steps out from behind me. A bow appears in his hand and a full quiver on his hip. He notches an arrow and draws it back, maintaining eye contact with the largest of the drunk party.

"Run," he states emotionlessly, aiming for the big guy's heart. And that's exactly what they do.


	3. Moirallegiance Bracelet

~Equius POV~

I keep my arrow trained on what appeared to be the leader of the party until every one of them disappeared in the trees. I captalog my bow and quiver as I spin around to face Signless. He looks both shocked and proud. This confuses me to no end. Why would he be proud of me? All I did was make a threat.

"What?" I ask, my confusion clear in my expression.

"You did good, Equius," Signless says before ruffling my hair.

"Are you two going to just stand around while we pack up?" Disciple asks. "Or are you going to help?"

An idea pops into my head. Why didn't I think of this earlier? I make my way over to Dolarosa, who's taking down a tent, and ask, "May I try something?"

She smiles and nods. "Of course."

I touch the tent and it disappears into my captadeck. I rush around the camp and captalog everything that we would normally have to carry. With a lighter load, we should be able to travel faster. When I turn around and see the looks of surprise on everyone's faces I explain, "I just captalogged everything." I remove a card from my fetch motis to show them. The one I chose was the one with the tent Dolarosa was taking down. "See?" I deploy the tent then recapta it.

Dolarosa is about to ask something when we hear rapidly approaching footsteps. Lots of them. There's a large group of armed Trolls making their way through the forest at a swift pace. The group I had threatened had called for reinforcements. I guess it's time to go. Signless must have the same idea.

"Time to leave," he says as he directs our small group towards the tree line on the other side of the clearing.

I look over my shoulder and see that the angry blue, and now purple as well, bloods aren't stopping and looking around for us. They keep running in our direction. On instinct, I run right at a tree, push off and grab ahold of a low hanging branch on another tree. From there I climb. Before I realize it, I'm half way up the tree.

Signless must have noticed I wasn't there. "Where's Equius?" he quietly asks Disciple. Both of them look around.

I roll my eyes and climb down to the lowest branch. "Guys," I whisper yell and get their attention. "Climb the trees." I don't wait for their response before I'm climbing again. I look down for a second and see that Signless is the last one in the tree. He had helped Disciple and Dolarosa up before doing exactly what I did, jumping off the trunk of one tree and onto the branch of another.

Only difference is that I caught the branch. He misses, the tips of his fingers barely grazing the blueish-purple bark. He was so close too.

Letting go of the branch I was holding on to, I allow myself to fall a few feet before landing on the branch Signless had missed. I drop from crouching on the branch to hanging upside down from the branch. Before he can fall too far out of my reach, I catch Signless's wrist and pull him up onto the branch beside me.

"Are you okay?" I ask him as we all start climbing to the top branches, not missing a beat.

"I think so," he replies. "How did you do that?"

"Exploring on LOCAS." He looks at me weird. "It was my world in the Medium. The Land of Caves and Silence. Your descendant's world was the Land of Pulse and Haze." We reach the top and situate ourselves as close as possible: Dolarosa on the next to highest branch close to the trunk, Signless on the highest branch close to the trunk, Disciple next to him, me in his lap. "The world we were assigned to in the Medium reflected in some way our aspect. LOCAS for me as the Heir of Void. LOPAH for him as the Knight of Blood. LORAF, Land of Rays and Frogs, for Kanaya as the Sylph of Space. And LOLCAT, Land of Little Cubes and Tea for Nepeta as the Thief of Heart." I wipe away the tears that had formed without my consent. I need to stop thinking about my friends. "That was off topic. I learned several interesting ways to climb while I was exploring the caves of my planet. Nepeta came with me sometimes but she couldn't climb as well as I could. It's a bit ironic considering that she lived her whole life in a cave."

"Nepeta is my descendant, correct?" Disciple asks.

I smile. "Yes." I look down at the moirallegiance bracelet Nepeta made for me when we were four sweeps old. I've kept it securely tied around my wrist ever since. The ends of the yarn are frayed, and the beads are dented and scratched, but it reminds me of her, so I keep it around my wrist. "She's also my Moirail." My hands are shaking. "She made this bracelet for me when we were about four sweeps. I've never taken it off."

"That's so sweet," Disciple says. I can tell she's planning something now. She has the same glint in her eye that Nepeta gets when she gets an idea. More tears form in my eyes as I mentally compare Disciple's face to Nepeta's. The differences are few and far between. She looks just like Nepeta.

"You look just like her," I whisper, fighting to keep blue tears from spilling over. Signless wipes the tears away before they escape as I rest my head on his shoulder and force myself to stop staring at Disciple. I instead stare at my bracelet, turning the beads with her initials over repeatedly, until we hear our very angry pursuers footsteps receding into the distance back the way they originally came from. "We need to keep moving."

"Agreed," Signless nods while we climb out of the tree.


	4. Free the Slave

~Signless POV~

The second our feet hit the ground, we run. We run to the edge of the forest in the opposite direction of the highbloods. We spot a town in the distance and run towards it. We don't stop running until we are a large distance from the tree line and our lungs burn, pleading for rest and air.

I look over my party, making sure everybody is here and uninjured. Dolarosa has her hands on her knees, hunched over and panting for breath but over all alright. Disciple very dramatically and unceremoniously flops on the ground in a show of exhaustion. She always has been one for theatrics. Equius had fallen behind. He's limping by the time he reaches me.

"Are you alright?" I ask, helping him to the ground. He's trying to keep his knee as still as possible.

"I felt something pop," he says through clenched teeth. Blue blood is streaming down his leg from the wound on his knee and collecting in a small puddle directly beneath his knee.

I gently press around the wound, making sure it was just the laceration that was causing him pain and not a more serious underlying injury. He doesn't attempt to move away from my touch. This is either a good sign or he just trusts me too much. I would never hurt him, but if he's in pain I need to know. One glance and I know that the latter is the case.

"Equius, I need to make sure you're okay." I continue to examine his injury. "If something hurts, tell me. Okay?" I gently press a spot close to the laceration that I hadn't touched before, and he jerks away. I wipe the blood away with my thumb to reveal a small bruise. A few stitches had pulled and snapped while he was running. "It looks like that pop you felt was the stitches," I say.

"Here," he mumbles, handing me the first aid kit he carries. It takes me only a few minutes to clean and bandage his injury. Luckily, the gash has healed enough that it doesn't need stitches again. Like I said, I don't want to hurt him and we don't have any anesthetic on hand to numb the pain.

When I finish bandaging his knee I kiss it lightly, like Dolarosa did every time I got hurt when I was younger. "Better?" I ask, looking up at him. He just nods and looks away from me, trying to hide his blush. I must have embarrassed him. Oops.

"I apologize for interrupting your little moment," Dolarosa says, startling us both and making Equius blush even more. "but we need to keep moving. Think we can make it to that town before sunrise?"

I bite my lip as I try to calculate the distance. "Maybe," I say. Helping Equius to his feet, I ask, "Can you walk?"

He glares at me for a second. "Of course I can-" he starts as he takes a step on his good leg. When he puts weight on his bad leg, though, he almost faceplants before I catch him.

"That would be a no." I kneel down in front of him. "Hop on." He huffs but does as he's told. I stand back up once he's settled. His arms tighten around my shoulders. "You okay?" He shakes his head. "Knee?" He nods. "Sorry. I'll try to be more careful. Okay?"

"Okay," he whispers.

"And, we're off!" Disciple giggles as we start to make our way towards the town.

It only takes us a few hours to reach the town. Equius is sound asleep, his head resting on my shoulder. I hope he's not having a nightmare. He doesn't deserve to be tormented in his sleep.

"Signless?" Dolarosa asks, her hand on my arm. "Are you okay?"

I blinked. "Yeah," I say. "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" Disciple asks, her head tilted in a way that resembles a confused meow-beast. "You zoned out for a second there. Did you even hear what I asked?" I shake my head. "I asked if you know who we're looking for or if we're even close."

"I don't know his name," I say, "but I would recognize him if I saw him."

"Blood color?" Equius asks, words slurred from sleep.

I look over my shoulder and catch a glimpse of him rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Excuse me?" I ask as politely as I can.

"Do you know their blood color?" He climbs off my back, but continues holding onto my arm and not putting weight on his injured knee. "I didn't pay much attention to history, but I know about my team's ancestors and who sided with who. There was only one member of your party that we weren't taught about, mainly because it would cause a Paradox, and that person is myself. If you know their blood color, I can tell you who you're looking for."

"Yellow."

His eyes go wide. "The Helmsman," He breathes as he starts running, his limp still present. Me, Disciple, and Dolarosa look at each other for a moment before we, too, start running. He continues when we catch up to him. "His name is Psiioniic and he's the most powerful of his kind. His abilities are rivaled only by his descendant's. He's also been a slave for most of his life. When most young Trolls were learning how to talk, he was being used as a living battery and still is to this day. I don't know much about his current master other than his sign, Caprittanius, but he's not going to give up Psiioniic easily."

We stop in front of a large hive made of metal and hear a blood-curdling scream from within.

"Or he might not give him up at all."

~Equius POV~

We approach the entrance to Psiioniic's Master's hive. We hear another scream. Signless tries to open the door, but it's locked. I take a lock pick out of my pocket as I nudge Signless out of the way. "Thank you Vriska for locking yourself out of your hive so often," I mumble to myself as I easily pick the lock.

"STOP! PLEASE! NO MORE!" Psiioniic begs between hits. My eyes go wide, and I can feel a panic attack coming on. I follow Signless into the next room, where we find Psiioniic, installed into the hive as its main power supply, being hit repeatedly by his Master. Neither notice us enter. The larger highblood hits him again, hard, in the stomach. Psiioniic coughs up blood this time, earning him a punch to the jaw.

He can't fight back. I want to protect him, but I can't move. I'm shaking and it's hard to breath. This whole situation is reminding me of Gamzee. Psiioniic can't defend himself and neither could I. I'm scared. I want to tell Signless to help Psiioniic, but I can't form words.

"Leave him alone!" Signless shouts as he tackles the high blood to the ground. He punches him hard enough to knock him out for a while before standing and rushing over to Psiioniic.

~Signless POV~

"Are you alright?" I ask Psiioniic.

With wide, fearful eyes, he whispers, "Please… kill me."

I can feel my heart shatter. "How about I get you out of here instead?" I say. "Does that sound good? You can travel with us and help bring about a new era. One of peace and equality."

"He'll never let me go. I power this place," he says, sounding defeated. "It's easier to just kill me. Nobody would miss me anyways."

I press a button on the panel next to this machine and release Psiioniic. He almost falls but I catch him before he does and gently guide him to the ground before pulling him into my lap. "Your life is too precious to throw away. Join us and I promise we'll protect you. Okay?"

"O-okay," he stutters before passing out.

"He'll be okay," Equius says from behind me. His voice is shaking almost as much as his body. Something's wrong. "Psiioniic's heal two times faster than the rest of us. He just needs rest."

"Are _you_ okay?" I ask, reaching up and tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.

He looks away from me. "We need to leave," he says. "I think I saw an inn not too far away. The sun will be coming up soon."

Something is very wrong.


	5. Equius: Have a Panic Attack

~Signless POV~

We got two rooms at the inn, one for Dolorosa and Disciple and one for Psiioniic, Equius, and myself. At the moment, all of us are in the "boy's room", as Equius had called it. Psiioniic is sound asleep. His injuries have been cleaned and bandaged. He's lying on one of the two small beds in our room, curled up in as much of a ball as he can manage. Dolorosa has decided that he needs someone close to him in case he wakes up scared, so she's sitting on the edge of the bed, sewing something. Disciple is pacing the room, angrily adding our night to her journal. Her photogenic memory still amazes me. I'm sitting on the other bed. Equius decided that my lap is his pillow and fell asleep while I run my fingers through his long hair.

Something in her writing catches Disciple's attention and excites her. "Signless," she squeals, climbing onto the bed with me and Equius. She holds her journal up so I can read something she's written. Honestly, I have no idea what she wants me to read. She's almost filled both pages the book is opened to.

"Okay, I give up," I say. "What am I looking at?"

She squeals again, louder than the last time. This time she manages to wake Psiioniic and Equius, both extremely disoriented. "He called you his guardian," she states in a slightly quieter, yet equally excited, voice. I give her a confused look. "Earlier this evening, when those drunk buffoons were threatening us, Equius said 'I bleed indigo and you're threatening my GUARDIAN.'" She points to the text near the top of the page.

Now that I think about it, I kind of _am_ his guardian, despite how close in age we are. I'm the one that found him and took care of him. "I guess," I shrug. I honestly have no idea what she wants me to say.

"Are you his guardian?" she asks, once again looking like a confused meow-beast.

I don't even know how to respond to that. How _am_ I supposed to respond to that? Me and Equius have never talked about it before. "I think that's up to him," I say, directing my attention to the indigo blood now cuddling up against my side. "Do you want me to be your guardian?"

"Yes," he states matter-of-factly and without hesitation. I can't help the smile that blossoms. I honestly didn't think anything of his statement at the time, just assuming he was trying to get the other blue bloods to leave us alone. I'm not entirely surprised that we have formed this sort of relationship, but I am excited and happy none the less.

Disciple squeals again, jotting down this moment in her journal as she resumes her pacing. This time she startles Psiioniic into Dolorosa's arms.

"Disciple," she snaps in her motherly tone. "If you don't mind, please control your volume. You're scaring Psiioniic." I want to help Psiioniic, but I don't want to leave Equius alone. I can tell that there's still something wrong, I just don't know what.

"You should make sure he's okay," Equius whispers to me.

I glance down at him for only a moment before I move to sit on the edge of the other bed, next to Psiioniic. Gently placing my hand on his shoulder, I feel him shaking. "No one here's going to hurt you," I say. He looks at me, then to Disciple. The pure fear radiating off of him is almost palpable. I move my hand from his shoulder to his cheek and turn his head back to me. "Disciple gets loud when she's excited, but she won't hurt you."

He nods, hugging his knees to his chest. "I'll have to remember that." He rests his head on his knees, turned to look at me. "I don't like loud sounds," he whispers.

"Bad memories?" I ask, wrapping my arms around him. He just nods. "I understand."

He rests his head on my shoulder. "I really don't think you do."

"No," Equius says. "He's taken care of me for a few months now. Believe me, he understands."

~Equius POV~

Psiioniic glares at me, red and blue sparks fly from the corners of his eyes. "What exactly do you think you've been through that can compare to a lifetime of slavery?" he hisses.

I make eye contact with Dolorosa and nod pointedly towards the door. She takes the hint. "We'll be in our room if you need us. Disciple."

The second the door closes behind them, I turn back to Psiioniic.

"I understand that your life has been a living nightmare, but at least you won't live to see the end of this world. Me and my friends played a game, SGRUB, that we thought would save a dying Alternia. Instead we wound up destroying it with astroids. We fought for our lives for months, on planets full of hostile Dersites, before winding up on a meteor in a place called the Void. It only took a few days for things to go south." By now I'm on my feet, arms crossed tightly over my chest. "Vriska devised a plot to hunt down and kill one of our main adversaries, Jack Noir. Eridan destroyed the Matriorb, killed Feferi and Kanaya, and seriously injured Sollux. Our generation's Grand Highblood, Gamzee," I pause, swallowing a lump that had formed in my throat. I'm shaking now, tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I wipe them away quickly. "Gamzee got sober and-" I can feel the panic rise as the memories come flooding back.

"Equius," Signless says, sympathy and worry in his voice, as he rises. Seconds later I'm in his arms. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

I shake my head. "He should know."

"What did he do to you?" Psiioniic asks. I can tell he's worried.

I wipe away more tears. "H-he raped me." My voice is quieter than I thought possible. I can't bring myself to look anywhere but the floor. "I c-couldn't defend my-myself." The panic attack is setting in. "He didn't g-give me a chance to." It's getting hard to breathe and my legs are shaking. I lean on Signless a little more, my ear pressed to his chest. The steady rhythm of his heart beat grounds me a little. "He would have k-killed me, too, if Aradia h-hadn't-" I can't form words anymore. The panic attack is in full force. I feel nothing and everything at the same time. I'm numb, yet I can still feel sweat rolling down my forehead, mixing with my tears.

Signless is saying something. Psiioniic, too. I know he's trying to get my attention, probably to calm me down. But, I can't hear him. My ears are ringing. Everything sounds fuzzy and far away.

~Signless POV~

"Equius," I guide him to sit on the bed and kneel in front of him. "You're safe. I'm right here." His eyes are shut tight and he's shaking.

"Is he okay?" Psiioniic asks. I didn't even notice him cross the room.

"No," I say as I reach up and brush Equius's bangs out of his face. "He's having a panic attack." Psiioniic looks confused. "He either freezes or freaks out when he has an attack," I explain, glancing over my shoulder to see the guilt in Psiioniic's eyes. "You didn't cause this," I try to reassure him. He sits beside me, looking up at Equius.

"He only started talking about it because I asked him to," he states as he takes a hold of Equius's hand. A few seconds later, Equius's hand disappears. A moment after that, his arm. In under a minute, he's completely invisible. "What the hell did I do?" Psiioniic asks, letting go of Equius's hand immediately. He looks at me, but I don't know what to tell him. "What's going on? Where did he go?!"

I shake my head, "I don't know. He's never done this before." I reach up to where I know his face is and cup his cheek. I feel tears and wipe them away. "Equius?" I ask.

"What's happening to me?" he whispers.

The pure fear, not of Gamzee but of his power, in his voice brings tears to my eyes. I ask, "Could this be one of your abilities?"

He's quiet for a moment before saying, "Maybe." He goes quiet again. "I can't control it." I feel him move from sitting on the bed and onto my lap. He's clinging to me. "Please help me," he whimpers, his quiet plea muffled even further by my shoulder.

I don't know how to help. So, instead of saying anything, I hold him.

"Breath," Psiioniic says. "Deep breaths help."

I feel his chest rise and fall against mine as he takes slow, deep breaths. Slowly, he reappears in my arms. He's still crying silently, but he seems to be much calmer than he had not too long ago.

"Better?" Psiioniic asks him, wiping away the tears flowing down Equius's cheek. He nods and tilts his head into Psiioniic's hand for a moment before resting back on my shoulder. He's exhausted, I can tell. His eyes are half closed and his grip on the front of my shirt is weakening.

He rubs his eyes, trying to stay awake. I stand, lifting him up and laying him on the bed. "You should get some rest," I say, bringing the blanket up over him. I turn to Psiioniic with a soft smile. "We should get some rest, too."


	6. Aura

~Signless POV~

I wake before Equius the next evening. By some miracle, he managed to get through the day without a nightmare, and he's still sound asleep. Careful not to wake him, I slip out of bed and move to sit on the edge of Psiioniic's bed. He's already awake.

"Good evening," I say, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. The pain in those two-tone orbs breaks my heart.

"Hey," he replies.

I help him sit up, asking, "How are you?"

"Sore, but better," he smiles up to me as I cross the room and retrieve the bandages Dolorosa had left on the desk. "I can't remember the last time I spent the day in a bed."

"I'm glad you're feeling better." I help him take off his shirt so I can change his bandages. "Let me know if anything hurts."

"Okay," he says as I remove the bandages around his torso. It's upsetting to see the gashes that were left by that machine. I carefully spread the medicine, a salve that Disciple made, over the injuries. He doesn't even flinch. I glance up at him, and he's completely calm. He notices this and, after a few times of me checking, he says, "You'd have to _try_ to hurt me to get a reaction." He looks away. "I'm used to it."

"What happened, how you were treated, should never have happened." Tears I didn't even know I was holding back roll down my cheeks. "You didn't deserve any of what you were forced to live through."

"Signless," he tilts my head up to look him in the eye, "I was a slave, it's what I was hatched for. Pain is all I ever knew. It's over now."

"But it was wrong," I say as I finish spreading the salve over his injuries. I replace the bandages on his torso and move on to the ones on his arms. I'm even more careful with these injuries. He might be used to extreme pain, but I don't want to hurt him. The gashes on his arms are the deepest, having been where the machine not only tapped into his power but also held him in place. We're silent as I apply the medicine to these injuries and wrap them in bandages. I turn my attention finally to the injuries on his neck and head. These are the shallowest of the gashes and haven't been covered with bandages, just the medicine.

My hands shake as I push his bangs up away from the first hole. It may be shallow, but it's deep enough to expose bone. As gently as I can manage, I spread the medicine over these injuries. The scars that will soon take the place of these injuries will forever mark him as a slave despite his newfound freedom. I wish I had found him sooner.

"Signless?" he asks, looking worried.

I shake my head slightly, feeling a light blush rise in my cheeks. I had finished applying the salve and was now lost in his eyes. "Sorry. I get lost in thought sometimes."

He laughs a little, gently pulling me into his lap. Strangely, I don't mind. I actually kind of like being this close to him. "I've noticed," he says, smiling up at me. I feel my heart skip a beat. I know this feeling, I just can't place its name. Our lips connect in a hesitant kiss. Before we can go any farther, there's a knock.

The door opens and we're apart in seconds, Psiioniic pressing himself against the wall closest to him and me half way across the room, both of us blushing fiercely. Whatever Dolorosa was saying is now lost to a heavy awkward silence as she and Disciple look from me to Psiioniic. I can see something click in Disciple's mind and she gives me a _look_. Her eyes go wide with excitement.

Oh no.

My eyes go wide, darting from Disciple to my sleeping ward.

NO.

She's about to squeal and, unintentionally, wake him.

Absolutely NOT!

I rush forward and clap my hand over her mouth, muffling her squeal just in time. I'm holding my breath, eyes wide, as I look over to Equius. Luckily, he's still peacefully asleep. Turning back to my overly excited Moirail, I practically growl, "Equius is _asleep_. This is the _first_ time in almost _three months_ that he's slept through the day _without a problem_. Do. NOT. Wake. Him." She nods. I remove my hand and make my way over to sit with Equius. I instantly realize that I'm acting like Dolorosa when I catch a glimpse of the proud look on her face.

"You and Psiioniic," she says excitedly. "Psiioniic and you." Me and Psiioniic look at each other for a second, then back to Disciple. She's about to squeal again. Psiioniic is the one to try and quiet her this time.

He stands, holding his hands shakily in a 'please calm down' gesture. I know he's afraid of her because of how loud she is, so I'm ready to step in at any second. He's about to ask her to calm down when she squeals loudly. Psiioniic visibly flinches and runs across the room, into my arms. I shoot Disciple a 'did you ACTUALLY just do that' look. Now I have two people clinging to me on the verge of having full blown panic attacks.

Realizing what she has done, Disciple's hands fly to cover her own mouth. "Oopsie," she says. "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself."

"Disciple," I call, trying in vane to get her attention.

"I just got SO excited."

"Disciple."

"You two have the same aura, and I was hoping you two would get together."

"Disciple!" I finally get her attention and realize what she just said. "Wait…What?"

She comes and sits on the end of the bed. "'What' what?"

"What did you mean about us having 'the same aura'?"

"Oh!" she perks up. "Your auras are the same shade of red when you two are touching. Just like when we're touching," she reaches out and holds my hand, as if to prove a point, "our auras turn the same shade of pink. Also when you and either Dolorosa or Equius are touching, your auras turn a pretty shade of light blue." She giggles at the end of her explanation.

"What does light blue mean?" Equius asks, still clinging to me.

"Light blue is the color of Guardianship."

"What does our aura usually look like?" Psiioniic inquires. I was wondering the same thing but thought it best not to ask.

"It really depends on your blood color," she excitedly replies. "Your aura usually matches your blood color. Sometimes it doesn't though. Sometimes it's black when the person is REALLY angry. I don't know why it does that though. The only exception to that is Equius' aura." We all look to Equius, who looks even more upset than before. "I don't know why your aura is usually black. I'm sorry."

"It's because of my powers," he says, sounding almost as defeated as Psiioniic did last night. "As an Heir of Void I'm supposed to both become 'void' and control the Void itself." His grip on my arm tightens slightly. "It's one of the reasons I didn't want to ascend to God Tier."

Dolorosa, sensing the tension in the air, says, "How about, instead of sending anyone into a panic attack, we go to the market tonight? We're running a little low on supplies." A few nods later and we're getting ready to go. Before we leave the room, Dolorosa turns around. She holds out a bundle of cloth to Psiioniic, saying. "I made you some new clothes. Your old outfit has blood all over it."

He looks like he doesn't know how to respond. Then, it hits me. Nobody's ever been genuinely nice to him before. He's probably waiting for some sort of catch. "Go ahead and change, we'll be in the hall," I say as the rest of us exit the room, giving him some privacy.

"Oh, I hope he likes it," she says after we'd been waiting out here for a few minutes. I just chuckle a bit at this. She's the best seamstress any of us has met, yet she always worries that her creations aren't good enough.

Before I can comment, though, Psiioniic comes out wearing the outfit that was made for him. The top is a skin tight, yellow shirt with short sleeves. His sign, Gemini, is depicted in the form of two horizontal stripes, one at the hem and the other at about chest level, that wrap around the entire top connected by to vertical lines of the same color. The leggings are black with a yellow stripe down the side of the legs. He has a huge smile on his face as he hugs Dolorosa, thanking her in the process.

"Ready to go?" Disciple asks excitedly. Honestly, she has to be the most excitable Troll on Alternia. "Let's go!" Before any of us can answer her original question, she starts walking towards the Inn's front door.


	7. Signless: Protect Equius

~Signless POV~

It's still early by the time we reach the market. Some of the vendors are still setting up their stands. There is already a rather large crowd gathered. Trolls of all ages and blood colors have gathered to buy and sell their wares. There's a large selection on sale, everything from fruit to fabric. There are a few vendors selling weapons and armour. Some are even selling toys. This large selection most likely has to do with this town being connected to a large port.

The five of us are gathered off to the side, out of everyone's way, discussing what we need and who will be in charge of finding what. We have decided to split into two groups. "Dolorosa and Disciple," I say, "you will be in charge of food."

"Any special requests?" Dolorosa asks.

Disciple and Psiioniic shake their heads. Equius stays quiet but moves closer to me. "Just keep in mind that Equius doesn't eat meat, please."

"Lots of fruits and veggies," Disciple says with a huge smile. "Noted."

"Psiioniic, Equius, and I will replenish our medical supply."

"You remember which herbs I need, right," Disciple asks. Last time I forgot, so she wrote me a list. She makes a lot of the medicines that we have. Each specially formulated for each member of our party.

I hold up the paper with the list, "It's kind of hard to forget something that's written down." She pouts for a second before turning and walking away.

"Good luck," Dolorosa says over her shoulder as she follows Disciple.

After a few hours of searching, we've found half of the herbs on Disciple's list and Equius' limp is back. He's trying to hide it though. We stop at another stand and purchase three more of the herbs from the list. Six left.

"Is he okay?" Psiioniic asks me quietly. I follow his gaze and find that Equius has fallen way behind. His limp is worse than it was a few minutes ago, he's stumbling every few steps, and the bandage around his knee has a slight blue tint.

"Give us a second," I say. I don't wait for a response before approaching Equius, catching him by the shoulders as he stumbles again and almost falls. "Hey."

He just looks up at me, pain in his eyes.

"Come on," I say leading him over to a nearby bench. "You could have told me earlier that your knee hurt."

"I know," he mumbles as I remove the bandage. He hands me a new bandage and the last of the medicine Disciple made for him, captalogging the old one.

"Why didn't you?" I inquire as I apply the medicine.

"I didn't want to worry you."

As I rewrap his knee and look up at him, I say, "I'm your Guardian." I place a gentle kiss on his forehead and hold his hand. "Worrying about you is my job. If you're hurt or upset, I need to know so I can help you. Do you understand?" He nods once before looking around.

"I believe we've drawn a crowd," he whispers shyly. I look around, too. We have indeed drawn the attention of a small crowd. Some of the looks coming from the crowd are ones of curiosity, others not so much. Several glares are being shot at us.

~Equius POV~

The crowd that has gathered is starting to make me nervous. I've never liked crowds. My hands are shaking as I look around. I don't like the way some of the Trolls gathered are glaring at Signless. I really don't like the judgment in their eyes. I know that Guardianship isn't common, but it isn't by any means unheard of, though it is extremely rare for a male to become a Guardian.

My grip on his hand tightens slightly, silently conveying my discomfort with the situation. Mean comments, all aimed at Signless, start coming from the crowd as we stand to leave. He keeps an arm wrapped protectively around my shoulders as we push through the crowd.

I feel an unfamiliar hand on my arm. I'm pulled away from Signless. My minor nervousness turns to full blown panic as I'm dragged from my Guardian.

"You shouldn't associate with one of such a low blood color," a woman hisses. She's the one that pulled me away from Signless. I'm too far gone in my panic attack to say anything or fight back. "If you need a Guardian, then I, a blue blood, shall be it."

Signless, please help me. I want to call to him, but I can't bring myself to speak. All I can do is make eye contact and try to convey my fear with a glance.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Signless says, annoyance in his voice. "Would you kindly release my son? You're scaring him."

She huffs and pulls me closer, sending me even farther into a panic attack. I'm shaking. Please stop touching me. I still can't form words.

"Oh, you poor thing," She says, stroking my hair like I was some sort of pet. "You're shaking. Did that bad man hurt you?"

"What's going on?" Disciple asks as she and Dolorosa make their way through the crowd. She spots us and passes her bags to Dolorosa. "Leave him alone!" she shouts as she rushes forward and pushes the lady away from me.

I'm in Signless' arms in seconds, clinging to him as I quietly cry. I don't like being grabbed. I don't like being pulled. I don't like anything about what just happened. I just want to stay with Signless. I'm safe with Signless.

"How dare you touch me?!" the woman shouts. Disciple is standing defensively between her and us. "Move so I can help this child."

"Not a chance. He's with his Guardian. He'll be fine."

My attention is pulled from Disciple and the blue blood when Psiioniic finally makes his way through the crowd. He kneels beside me, whispering, "Breathe." He holds my hand, which is slowly turning invisible. This scares me even more. I don't want to lose control of my powers again. I look Psiioniic in the eye as he and Signless do their best to calm me down. It's not working.

Disciple and the lady that grabbed me are in a yelling match now. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dolorosa rummaging through the bags she's holding. Signless is holding me. Psiioniic is trying to coach me through a breathing exercise, that isn't working. I'm too far gone. The panic attack has taken hold. I hold on tighter to Signless. I know I'm safe with him.

"Equius," Dolorosa's kind voice calls. She is kneeling beside me, next to Psiioniic. "This might help." She hands me a plush hoofbeast. "When Signless was younger, he had day-terrors more often than not. Holding his favorite toy always helped calm him," she explains, a sympathetic smile on her face.

Hugging the toy does bring some comfort. Enough that I'm able to focus on taking deep breaths, like Psiioniic is telling me to. I'm still clinging to Signless, but not as tightly as a minute ago. I feel bad, he'll most likely have bruises from how tightly I was holding onto him.

"Better?" Signless asks when I'm visibly calm. I nod my head before turning to Dolorosa.

"Thank you," I say in a small voice.

"You're welcome," she says. "Now, if only this woman would stop being so stubborn and leave you alone." She looks over to where the woman is still arguing with Disciple.

Signless glares at her. I don't think I've ever seen him glare at someone before tonight. He grabs Disciple's hand. "Come on, she's not worth your attention," he says. We start to make our way to the next stand selling herbs when the lady grabs my arm again. This time, though, Signless shoves her away, growling, "If you EVER touch Equius again I will personally make sure you regret ever being hatched. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Did he just threaten this woman? I didn't think he was capable of making a threat.

The woman's eyes go wide in fear as she nods and rushes back to her shopping.

He turns back to me. "Are you okay?" he asks.

I simply nod. "I had no idea you were capable of threatening somebody."

"I hope I didn't scare you." He ruffles my hair and smiles.

Shaking my head, I say, "You could never scare me."

~Signless POV~

The rest of the evening goes by smoothly. We find the last of the herbs Disciple needs for the medicine. Dolorosa wound up buying more fabric. We wander around the market for an extra half hour before leaving the town entirely. Disciple got board about an hour ago so we're now playing "I Spy". It's her turn.

"I spy something deep," she says.

"A small canyon," Equius states almost immediately. He sounds sad.

Dolorosa looks around before saying, "If I remember correctly, there should be a Brooding Cave in this area."

"There's one about a mile east of here," Equius says, pointing in the direction of the cave.

"You sure seem to know this area pretty well, kid," Psiioniic says. "Have you been here before?"

"I spent most of my life here." He points to the higher side of the canyon. "In my time, my hive was up there. Vriska lived on the other side of the canyon. Her lusus lived in the canyon. She was to big to be in any building, and she kind of scared me."

"Which one was Vriska?" I ask. He's told us about all of his friends and there are so many of them that it's hard to keep track of them all.

"Vriska's the one I made a prosthetic arm for. I got exceptionally good at picking locks because of how often she locked herself out of her hive. I think she did it on purpose to see if I would fall off the small bridge we had set up. She's a bit of a psychopath, kind of like her Ancestor, Spinneret Mindfang."

"I've heard of her," Dolorosa says, hatred in her eyes. Her skin is almost glowing. "That woman is a pirate and a witch."

Equius shakes his head. "No, she's a Sylph and a psychic. Mind control is her specialty. She's supposed to be a healer, but her entire blood line is corrupt. I _highly_ suggest you avoid her, Dolorosa. It doesn't end well if you meet her, if her journal is anything to go off of."

"Her journal?" she asks, brow raised in curiosity. Equius nods.

"Guys," I say. "It's getting late. We should find somewhere away from the road to set up camp."

"How about the canyon?"


	8. Nepeta

~Equius POV~

"You sure you don't want a lift down, kid?" Psiioniic asks again. He's used his psionics to levitate everyone else down to the floor of the small canyon.

I glare at him as I tie my hair back. "I enjoy climbing and STOP calling me 'kid'," I say. "It's annoying and, frankly, demeaning."

That last part I mumble under my breath as I make my way to the edge of the canyon wall. We're on the shorter side of the canyon. I look over the edge to gauge the distance, about sixty to sixty-five yards. I can scale far higher in only a few hours. This shouldn't take long. I hop over the edge and start my descent.

~Signless POV~

Psiioniic lands a little way away from me and walks over. "That kid of yours is stubborn as hell," he says before kissing me on the cheek.

"I just hope he doesn't fall." I can't bring myself to look away. "You'll catch him if he falls, right?"

I feel warm arms around my waist before he says, "Of course. I'm not gonna let him get hurt."

"Promise?"

He turns me around and kisses me quickly. "I promise I won't let him fall. Besides, he seems to be a natural. Look."

I turn back around and see that Equius is already a quarter the way down the wall. I know he's a fast climber, I just didn't know how fast. Trees are one thing, this is impressive. There are some places he's already past that look like he shouldn't have had any holds.

~Equius POV~

I'm a quarter of the way down this cliff face. I'm making good progress. At least, I was. I find my next foot hold. I find my next hand holds. I move to repeat the task and the rock under my current foot hold crumbles. I lose my grip just long enough to free fall a few feet. Before I get too far away from the inwardly slanted wall, I try to grab a hold. Instead of holding onto the rock, I just manage to scrape my hands. Next thing I know, I'm floating.

~Signless POV~

Psiioniic uses his power to carefully float Equius to the ground. I don't waist any time pulling my slightly dazed ward into my arms. He's safely on the ground now.

"Are you okay?" I ask before noticing his hands.

He nods and holds out his hands, scraped palms up, "A few scrapes, but I'm fine."

Before I can say or do anything, there's a bright red light. Suddenly, there's two girls a few yards away. One girl is wearing a monochromatic red outfit and has matching wings. The other is wearing a dark green coat, a blue hat in the shape of a meowbeast, has a blue tail, and is bleeding olive green blood.

Equius is running over to them in seconds, shouting, "Aradia! Nepeta!"

~Equius POV~

"Equius," Aradia says as she tries to hold Nepeta up. "I'm so sorry. I thought I could protect her. She's hurt pretty bad and I'm afraid to take her to Kanaya." I take my Moirail from her immediately when I reach them. "She went after Gamzee and didn't do too well. She got one good scratch across his face in, though."

That catches my attention more than the blood pouring from Nepeta's wounds. My eyes go wide. "Does she know what he did?"

Aradia looks apologetic. "She was in the vent." She cups my cheek, wiping away tears. "She saw everything." Something beeps on her wrist. "I'm sorry, Equius. I have to go. I'm not allowed to stay here for long. I just figured she'd be safer with you than on a meteor with a psychopathic clown and a hungry Rainbow Drinker."

I don't get the chance to say anything before she kisses me and flies into a nearby time portal. I don't have time to cry or question what just happened. Nepeta's hurt and starting to wake up. I need to take care of her. I hold her close as I run back to camp.

She's fully awake, and crying quietly onto my shoulder from the pain, by the time I reach the rest of my group. I sit down, beside Disciple, with Nepeta in my lap and retrieve a clean cloth from my captadeck. I'm trying to calm her as I dab blood from a particularly nasty gash on her forehead.

"Who's your friend?" Psiioniic asks. He's the only one who I expected to not recognize her.

"Her name's Nepeta Leijon. She's my Moirail and Disciple's Descendant," I reply, refusing to take my eyes off my work.

Signless comes and sits beside me. I hand him a clean rag and he sets to work cleaning a gash on her arm.

"Karkitty?" Nepeta asks quietly. I've never heard her so quiet.

"Close," I say. "That's Signless. He's Karkat's Ancestor and my Guardian." I smile up at him. "He has a more positive attitude than Vantas."

She pouts. "Karkitty can be mice. He's just stressed and fur-y tired most of the time."

Signless chuckles at that. "Did she just say 'mice'?"

"I like cat puns," she defends, trying to sit up straight, before wincing and cuddling close to me.

~Signless POV~

Nepeta hasn't left Equius's side in the few hours since she arrived. They even sat shoulder to shoulder during dinner. Usually he tries his best to sit away from the rest of us when he eats. Nepeta has been the only exception to this, she even had her tail wrapped around his waist. She brings out a side of him that I haven't seen before. Now they're off by the canyon wall talking.

"Spying?" Psiioniic asks, sitting next to me.

I rest my head on his shoulder, "Maybe."

Disciple comes over and sits on the other side of me, writing in her journal. "They're cute together." She looks up from her writing and sees the questioning looks on our faces. "She's my Descendant. I'm allowed to say that." More weird looks. "I don't need to pair them! They're ALREADY paired. I mean, seriously! Look at them. The pink aura around them is so strong, which means that the Moirallegiance between them is a strong one. I'm allowed to say that they're cute together."


	9. Fear and God Tier

~Equius POV~

_CRACK!_

_Gamzee broke my hand. I want to scream, but I can't. I can't breathe!_

_The bow string around my neck loosens a little as Gamzee laughs louder and says something about "having fun". What is he saying? I can't hear him over the ringing in my ears._

_Suddenly, my shorts and underwear are gone. What's happening? I can't move._

"_I'm gonna make you feel real motherfuckin' good," Gamzee laughs._

_I feel something press at the entrance to my nook._

_I try to shake my head, but I can't. He's using his chuckle-voodoos on me, making me too scared to move._

_Please, don't do this!_

_I don't want this!_

_Please, DON'T DO THIS!_

_The cord around my neck tightens again as he pushes all the way in._

_It hurts! I feel something tear as I'm stretched to my limit._

_I DON'T WANT THIS!_

_STOP!_

_Everything goes purple as he start to move._

"Equius! It's a dream," Signless calls, shaking me awake. I look around, still absolutely terrified, as he pulls me into his arms. "I promise you, my child, it was just a dream." He's rocking me gently as I cry uncontrollably in his arms.

"Found it," Psiioniic says. He makes his way across the tent and gives me the plush hoofbeast toy Dolorosa got for me last night. "Here."

I practically snatch it from him and hug it tightly. I hate these day-terrors. I cuddle closer to Signless, seeking more comfort.

"You're okay," he says, arms wrapped tightly around me.

"You're safe, Equius," Psiioniic states as he runs his fingers through my hair.

"We won't let anyone hurt you. I promise. We're right here."

I want to believe them, I really do, but my fear is telling me that they wouldn't be able to protect me if Gamzee were here. Nothing can protect me from him. Despite my fear, I know them. I've sparred with Signless a few times and Psiioniic is the strongest of his kind. Stronger than Sollux, and he can take me down in a fight. I am safe in Signless' arms.

"You want to talk about it?" Signless asks.

I nod. "It showed more of the memory this time. It usually skips," I pause for a moment, looking for a word to describe what he did without having to say the actual word, "it, and goes straight to Aradia sending me to you. This time, it didn't skip."

"I'm sorry," Signless whispers, holding me closer.

"Knock, knock," Nepeta calls from the flap at the front of the tent. She has her coat up over her head, protecting her from the sunlight.

Psiioniic pulls her in, saying, "Are you fucking crazy?!"

"Maybe," she says. "And Equius doesn't like that kind of language!" She's pouting before she turns to me. "Are you okay? I heard you scream." She wipes a few tears from my cheek. "I haven't heard you scream since you broke your horn. You sounded scared."

"I had a bad dream," I say, avoiding her eyes. I don't want to worry her.

"Uh-huh," she says, looking me over for a second. "It was Gamzee, wasn't it?" My eyes go wide. How did she know? "Sensory toy. Clinging to your Guardian. I've seen you have a bad dream, you've had them be-fur. You always refuse to let me help." She tries to hold my hand, but I pull it away. "I guess that hasn't changed. But I have seen your normal bad dreams. You usually just brush it off. This is di-fur-ent."

My hands are starting to turn invisible. "Nepeta, please stop." I sound so scared. I know that I'm starting to panic again. I try to focus on my hands to stop them from turning completely invisible, but it doesn't help. Instead my entire arm turns invisible.

"What the heck?!" she squeaks.

"Psii," Signless calls.

Psiioniic is beside us in seconds, trying to coach me through a breathing exercise. Breath in, hold, breath out, repeat. I try to do as he says, but I'm hyperventilating and it's hard to calm down enough to take a normal breath. Even with help, it's difficult. I look away from Psiioniic and up to Signless.

"You're okay," he says, brushing my bangs out of my face. "I promise you, you're okay. No one here is going to hurt you."

I pull him down to me and press my forehead to his, closing my eyes. I don't want to see or hear anything. I just want to hear him. I'm safe with him. My Guardian keeps me safe. I know that he keeps me safe. I've stopped listening to what he's saying, I just know that he's still talking. Still trying his best to calm me down. I haven't done this since the first few weeks I was in his care. Back when my panic attacks were the worst, and everything set me off. Back when I refused to talk to anyone but him. Back when I would hide behind him whenever someone, anyone, would try and talk to me.

I'm completely calm by the time I open my eyes again, looking into Signless' red eyes. Worried red eyes. I don't like when he's worried. I smile and whisper, "I'm okay now."

His worry melts into happiness and he smiles. I like his smile. "I'm glad you're okay." I cuddle closer to him again, turning my attention to my Moirail.

Nepeta is practically bouncing, she's so excited about something. "What?" I ask.

"You God Tiered!" She squeals. She's not as loud as Disciple, but one could most definitely hear the resemblance. "I thought you were against the whole mostly required suicide thing."

"I didn't and I am." I pout.

"Woah," Signless interjects. "Wait. What 'required suicide thing'?"

Nepeta perks up, about to explain. I lunge forward and cover her mouth with both of my hands before she can say anything. Over my shoulder, I explain, "You can only reach God Tier one of two ways. One way is to die on your Quest Bed, usually by suicide. The other way is for your Dream-Self to die on their designated Sacrificial Slab in the Crypt of the moon of either Derse or Prospit. Again, this is usually by suicide." I turn my attention to Nepeta. "I did NOT kill myself on my Quest Bed. I didn't even LOCATE my Quest Bed. I have no idea if my Dream-Self died on a Sacrificial Slab. It was in the crypt with Aradia when Derse and its moon were destroyed. I don't remember if it was on the Void slab, though. What would happen if my Dream-Self ascended, but I was still alive?"

I remove my hands so she can speak. "I don't know fur purr-tain, but there is a paw-sibility that your Dream-Self would merge with you. It would be fur-y slow, though."

"Is there a way to stop that from happening?"

"No, silly!" she exclaims. "Besides, why would you want to? Reaching God Tier is a huge achievement!"

"I don't want to reach God Tier," I shout, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. I then bow my head, hiding my tears behind my hair, and whisper, "I'm scared."

"There's nothing to be scared of, though," she says, tilting my head up. "You're an Heir. You can control the Void itself."

I glare at her and focus on making my entire body invisible. It's easier to make myself invisible than it is to reverse the effect. "An 'Heir' BECOMES _AND_ controls their Aspect," I growl. I force myself to become visible again. It takes much more effort, and I almost pass out from the amount of energy it takes. "I don't want that." At this point, Signless is holding me up.

"Hey, why don't you get some sleep," he suggests. I nod and lay down close to him. I'm still holding his hand by the time I finally slip into a dreamless sleep.


	10. Sensory Overload

~Equius POV~

The next few weeks go smoothly. We've made it through another town. Psiioniic has been teaching me how to control my powers, which have been developing faster than I anticipated. I can now move things without touching them and turn people I'm touching invisible along with me. Nepeta and Psiioniic are fully healed, though Psiioniic's scars are far more visible than Nepeta's. I'm almost fully healed, too. My knee still bothers me sometimes.

The whole time she's been here, Nepeta has been acting strange around Psiioniic. She's drawing in her sketchbook when she looks up and sees him walking two feet to her right. Instead of just going back to her drawing, she squeaks and runs to the other side of me.

"Is she okay?" Psiioniic asks me. I just shrug, so he looks around me at her and asks again, "Are you okay? You've been acting weird around me since you got here."

She just looks up at him, sympathy and sorrow in her green-grey eyes. "What's wrong?" I ask. She just shakes her head. Something is very wrong. She's never this quiet, at least not with me. I can't believe I'm doing this. I sigh, saying, "CT asks AC, 'What's wrong?'" I get a weird look from Psiioniic and Signless, and a giggle from Disciple. Dolorosa, smartly, remains silent.

She perks up a little, but not much, and replies, "AC cautiously whispers," she leans closer and starts to whisper, "'I know what happens to him. It's not happy.'"

"CT pushes for more information, 'What do you mean?'"

She takes out her husktop and opens a video file. "AC deploys her trusty husktop and locates a video. AC says, 'TA hacked into HIC's se-purr-ity feed and found this footage of the Helmsman of her flagship, Condescension. TA shared it in one of CG's memos be-fur AA sent AC back in time. Helmsman is still alive in our time, but Helmsman doesn't want to be alive.'"

"Do you understand what she's saying?" Signless asks, soon adding, "I'm completely lost."

I nod, whispering to Nepeta, "Let's not play that video."

Psiioniic asks, "Who is she talking about and what's with the initials and codenames?"

I nervously rub the back of my neck, "The initials are our screen names. 'CT' is 'centaursTesticle', me." Disciple and Psiioniic try to hide their giggles. "Don't laugh, everything else I tried was already taken. Anyways, 'AC' is 'arsenicCatnip', Nepeta. 'TA' is 'twinArmageddons', Sollux." I look over to Psiioniic. "Sollux is your Descendant and the best hacker on our team. 'AA' is 'apocalypseArisen', Aradia. Aradia's the one that brought me and Nepeta back through time. She's also my Kismesis. 'CG' is 'cacinoGeneticist', Karkat. He's Signless' Descendant and our team leader. 'HIC' is 'Her Imperious Condescension', the Empress herself." I look down at the ground. "The Helmsman is you, Psii. Your fate isn't a positive one. I'm sorry."

He looks sad yet strangely understanding. "I don't stay free, do I?"

"After Signless dies, none of you do," I say quietly.

I've talked with everyone else about Signless' fate of an early death. He made it clear that he always knew he wouldn't live a long life and that his preaching would get him killed. I've never told them about their own individual fates.

"What happens to us?" Disciple inquires, slight worry in her voice.

"You get exiled," I say, still staring at the ground. "Executor Darkleer, my Ancestor, somehow manages to convince the Grand Highblood to have mercy on you. I don't know why or how, though. Dolorosa gets sold to Orphaner Dualscar, who then loses her to Mindfang and has her killed. Psiioniic gets drafted into the Imperial Navy and installed as the Helmsman of the Condesce's flagship."

There's only silence after that. At some point, Nepeta put her husktop away and went back to drawing. Signless and Psiioniic eventually wound up holding hands, most likely without noticing. Not much is really happening when a highblood comes running out of a grain field, laughing like he's having the time of his life, and runs right into me.

"Equius!" exclaims Signless as he rushes to my side.

The highblood, whom bares a striking resemblance to Gamzee only larger, is already on his feet. "Watch where you're going!" He even sounds like Gamzee, only with a slightly deeper voice. My eyes go wide when I realize exactly who just knocked me to the ground.

The Grand Highblood.

Gamzee's Ancestor.

I'm shaking. I don't even register Signless pulling me into his arms and asking me if I'm hurt. The ringing in my ears is too loud before it fades to silence, fear too strong. I don't notice when my Ancestor emerges from the field after the Grand Highblood. I don't hear Nepeta calling my name and trying to calm me down. I can only see him and the flashbacks he triggers.

Images, memories, of Gamzee pailing me so hard it hurt flash across my vision. I physically recoil from the memories.

I force myself to look away from the Grand Highblood and find Signless. I'll be safe with him. It's not a difficult task as he's holding me. Slowly, my senses return. I can feel Signless' arms around me. I can hear him, Psiioniic, and Nepeta trying to calm me. I hear my Ancestor trying to convince the Grand Highblood to leave me alone. Just as quiet as it was a second ago, everything is way too loud now. Even Signless whispering that everything is okay is too loud. It's suddenly too bright. The comforting scent of my guardian, too intense. Everything is too much.

I know this feeling, Sensory overload. I haven't had an episode since before my team entered our Session. Before Sollux taught me how to try and block everything out.

Even my own thoughts are too loud.

~Signless POV~

Equius closes his eyes tightly and covers his ears. He's shaking more now than he was a second ago.

"Grand Highblood," the blueblood that looks like an older Equius pleads, "he's scared enough as is. Let's just go." He goes ignored as the highblood begins to stalk closer to us. The blue blood grabs him by the arm and quickly says, "I'll do that thing you like if we leave now." There's a hint of seduction in his voice that catches the Grand Highblood's attention. Just as quickly as they arrived, they're gone.

My attention immediately shifts back to Equius. He's leaning on me completely. "Shh, it's okay, my child," I whisper. "They're gone." He opens his eyes and looks around for a second before whimpering and closing his eyes again. "What's wrong?" I ask. He shakes his head, his hands pressing tighter over his ears. Eyes squeezed shut so tight it looks painful. "Equius, please, talk to me."

Nepeta scoots closer, gently stroking his hair. "I've got him," she whispers, as she pulls him closer to her. He doesn't hesitate to cling to her. "This isn't a panic attack anymore, it's one of his episodes." She's still whispering. "He's dealt with episodes of sensory overload his entire life. This is the first one he's had since we entered our Session." She looks from me to him, playing with his hair. He still has his eyes shut and ears covered, but he appears to be slightly more relaxed. "Everything is too loud and too bright fur him right now and he's going to 'wake up' with a really bad headache."

"We can't stay in the middle of the road until he comes around," Dolorosa whispers.

Psiioniic nods in agreement. "She's right. We need to keep moving."

I really want to give Equius some more time, but they're right. We do need to keep moving. "Equius," I whisper, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's time to go, my child." He nods as I pick him up.

Nepeta walks beside us. When Equius uncovers his ears, an hour later, she holds his hand. He's able to open his eyes without pain a few hours after that. By now, we've decided to find somewhere to stop for the day, so we're searching for a safe spot off the road.


	11. Vision of Execution

~Equius POV~

Psiioniic found a cave a few yards from the road not too long ago. That's where we are now. Signless is sitting by the fire, helping Dolorosa cook. I look over to the mouth of the cave. The sun will be up in a few hours, but the trees close to the entrance will provide enough cover to protect us from the harm it would usually inflict.

I've moved away from the group and parked myself behind a stalagmite. I just want to be alone for a little while. My head is tilted back, resting against the cool rock, eyes shut.

"Equius?" Signless says.

I wince slightly and rub my temples. My head is pounding. The problem with migraines is that they don't go away easily. Not even with sleep, of which I managed to get about a half an hour.

"Headache?" he asks, much quieter this time, as he starts playing with my hair.

I mumble, "Migraine," as I lean on him.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault."

"It kind of is." I look up at him, confused. "I should've at least heard him coming. He wasn't exactly quiet."

I can't help but laugh a little at that. "No, he wasn't."

"Signless. Equius," Dolorosa calls. "Dinner's ready."

"Come on," he says, helping me up.

~Signless POV~ (time skip)

_Pain._

_It feels like my wrists are on fire._

_I open my eyes and look up. The shackles binding my wrists over my head are heated to the point of glowing._

_It hurts._

_I can feel the cuts, bruises, and whiplashes all over my body._

_I'm bleeding._

_EVERYTHING HURTS!_

_I look forward and to the right. Three people are there on their knees, hands bound behind their backs._

_Dolorosa and Disciple have tears in their eyes._

_Psii is pissed. I can see the sparks jumping from the corners of his eyes and between his horns from here._

_I try to go to him. To calm him down before he lashes out._

_The burning shackles touch unmarred flesh, ripping a scream from my lungs._

I sit up way too fast when I wake, gasping for breath. My head collides with something hard almost immediately. Holding my head, I look around and spot Psiioniic. He's also holding his head and hissing a string of curses that would make a seadweller blush.

"I'm so sorry," I say, trying to make sure he's alright. "Are you okay?" He looks up at me, forcing a smile.

"You, my love, have a very hard head. Do you know that?" he laughs, his smile becoming more genuine by the second. I try to smile back, but I can't even fake it. Instead, opting to stare at my hands in my lap. "What's wrong?"

I shake my head, "Nothing."

"I don't believe you," he whispers before scooping me up and carrying me away from the rest of the group.

Once again shaking my head, I ask, "What are you doing?"

He sits by the wall of the cave with me in his lap. "Something's bothering you. I want to help."

"I don't think you can help," I whisper, resting my head on his shoulder.

He doesn't say anything. He doesn't push for me to talk about it. He just holds me until I feel I'm ready to talk.

"My vision changed." He stays quiet even when I look up at him. I know I look scared. "My new vision scares me, Psii."

Wiping away red tears, he says, "Maybe it was just a bad dream."

"I really don't think you get it," I'm shaking my head for the third time this afternoon, almost evening. "I don't dream. When I sleep, it's either a vision or nothing at all. It's been like that my entire life."

Something in Psiioniic's mind clicks as a look of recognition rises in his eyes. "You've had this dream before, haven't you?"

"Yeah, ever since I was little. It was never this clear though."

"Would it be too much for me to ask what it was you saw?"

"My execution," is all I can force myself to say as more tears escape. My voice is so quiet and shaky that I can barely believe that it's mine.

"No," Equius says as he turns visible beside me and Psiioniic. "It's not an execution. It's just murder, and I refuse to just let you die." There's a look of determination in his eyes that I've never seen before.

Before I can say anything, Nepeta squeaks and comes running over. She has her husktop out and looks extremely distressed. "Equi-hiss, my husktop is dying! Do you have fur charger? Please tell my you have fur charger. Please." Her eyes light up when he hands her a glowing green cube. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THA-"

Equius covers her mouth for a moment while shushing her. "We're not trying to wake them up," he says quietly, nodding towards where Disciple and Dolorosa are still sound asleep. "Did you figure it out?"

Perking up a bit, she turns her husktop so we can all see the screen. On her screen, there's a strange map with cracks that are rapidly changing colors. It looks like a broken space map, with several circles that I can only assume are planets. There's also a bright red dot that is moving all over the map, disappearing from one area and reappearing in another.

"Yes," she whisper-yells, turning to Equius.

"Alternia should be on the map by now" he mumbles, holding a cut on his arm. That wasn't there earlier. Did he cut his arm when he was knocked down earlier? Or did it happen after that? It had to have happened recently, the cut is still bleeding.

She points to a very small purple spot. "Right there. He just broke that section of Void a few minutes ago." She just now notices his bleeding arm. "I take it you already figured that out though. How's your arm?"

"I think the bleeding is slowing down," he says, moving his hand to look at the cut.

~Equius POV~

Signless' eyes go wide when he sees the cut on my arm, immediately applying pressure.

"How did this happen?" he's starting to worry, checking me over for any other injuries.

"An Heir controls and becomes their aspect," I shrug. "It'll be gone in less than an hour. They're always gone quickly, not even a scar."

The shock in his eyes tells me that I said too much. "This has happened before?"

I immediately shut my mouth, saying nothing more on the subject. Nepeta speaks up instead, "It's been going on fur a few days meow." Signless' shock mixes with disappointment. "E-fury time Lord English breaks another piece of the Void, Equius gets a new cut somewhere and it's gone a few hours later."

"It hurts, but him throwing his tantrum and breaking everything has made it easier to track the meteor our team is on. Time is relative in the Void. It'll be close, but I think I can get all four of you off Alternia before you get killed."


	12. The Plan

~Equius POV~

"It'll be more than really claws," Nepeta says. The look of worry and guilt on her face makes me slightly nervous. She points at the bottom right corner of her screen. "Check the date."

"Two nights?" I breath. "We have two nights?"

"It seems so."

"Do you have any signal?"

"Yes."

"Enough to use Trollian?"

She purrs.

She actually purrs.

"I have enough signal to video cat! Who do you want to call?"

At this point she had turned the husktop back to face herself and I had moved to sit beside her. Signless still has a tight grip on my arm, which has finally stopped bleeding, so I'm mostly leaning towards her to see the screen.

"Is Karkat online? Or Kanaya?"

She right-clicks on his screen name, selecting video chat. Seconds later and, "Nepeta?! Where the fuck are you?!"

"Hi, Karkitty," Nepeta squeals. "Equius wants to talk to you. Oh! We're with your ancestor too." She turns the husktop to face the three of us.

"Equius?!" he practically shouts. "Dude, we all thought Gamzee killed you!" I flinch at the name. "Where the fuck did you disappear to?! And why the hell didn't you text or call?!"

"Can you not talk about HIM around Equius?" Signless asks, glaring at his descendant. "Thank you."

Karkat's eyes go wide for a second before there's a crash behind him. He turns around and shouts, "What the fuck was that?!"

"SNEAK ATTACK!" Dave shouts before pouncing on Karkat, almost knocking him out of his chair. The shriek that comes out of our leader is almost comical. "You're the horse guy, right?" the Human in red asks me as Karkat struggles to untangle himself from Dave's cape.

"DAVE I WILL FUCKING KILL IF YOU DON'T REMOVE YOU FUCKING CAPE FROM MY HEAD!"

Laughing, Dave pulls the cape away. "Whatever Mr. Grumpy Nubby." And he walks away.

"YOU'RE DEAD STRIDER!" He shouts again before turning his attention back to us.

I don't waste any time in asking, "How many of you have ascended?"

"All of us except you and Nepeta. Why?"

"I have an idea, but I'm going to need some help."

~Karkat's POV~

"What does this plan of yours have to do with the rest of us reaching God Tier?" I inquire. There's another crash behind me. I check over my shoulder for a second as Equius explains.

"The meteor is going to barely be in Alternia's upper atmosphere for a few hours in two nights. I think that we can get all six of us off Alternia and onto the meteor before it goes to another section of the Void. We're going to need help though, from the entire team."

I look back to the screen.

"Let me get this straight," I huff. "You want to use our powers to get you, Nepeta, and a few of our Ancestors off Altrenia in two days?" He nods. "We're all royally fucked if this fails. You know that, right?" another nod. "Who do you need?"

Another crash, closer. I can now clearly determine that the sound I'm hearing is coming from the vents.

"Feferi, Sollux, Aradia, you, and" he pauses for a second and cringes as he lists the last name, "Gamzee."

The look in his eyes when he says Gamzee's name worries me. He's afraid of just saying his name. What the fuck did Gam do to him? I deploy the wireless control panel for the PA system and hold down the talk button. "Fef, Sol, Aradia, and Gam! Get your asses to the computer room now!" I shout, my message sounding throughout the compound. Gamzee is here immediately, tumbling out of the vent over my head and landing in my lap. "Have you been in the vents the whole fucking time?"

"Hell yeah, motherfucker," he says, resting his head on my shoulder. "Been there a few days, bro. Kanaya's after me again." He snuggles closer to me. "She scares me."

~Signless' POV~

"You fucking deserve it!" Nepeta hisses, her tail flicking a few times. "How's your face, jerk?!"

My descendant gently strokes Gamzee's cheek, glaring at Nepeta. "Nep, stop. I don't know what he did when he went rage mode, but it wasn't really him. You guys got a good look at what a highblooded Bard of Rage truly is and you got hurt. I'm sorry. But Gamzee wasn't in control of what he did!"

"I don't care about the reason," Equius says, betrayal heavy in his tone. "What he did to me is unforgivable. In control or not, he had no right to touch me like that. I wouldn't even voluntarily be anywhere near him if it wasn't a life or death situation."

I let go of his arm and pull him into my lap. I'd rather he not have a panic attack so soon after the last one. Running my fingers through his hair, I whisper, "Shh, you're okay, my child. I've got you."

Nepeta moves to sit next to us, taking over where Equius left off. "We don't know how this plan will go so we need a wild card. Gamzee, as much as nei-fur of us wants anything to do with him," she hisses at the lanky boy, "is the perfect wild card."

"What about the rest of us?" a boy that looks suspiciously like Psii asks. That must be Sollux. Beside him are Aradia and a girl that looks like Dolorosa.

"Tank, Healer, and Defender," Equius says. "And a Wild Card for good measure."

"If I remember correctly," the Dolorosa look alike says, "that is the proper structure for a FLARP party during team skirmishes."

"Or MMOs and RPGs that allow for a team dynamic or companions to add as party members," Sollux states. He then deploys a husktop, balancing it on his arm as he types rapidly. "Fef is obviously the healer. You already labeled Gamzee as the wild card, even though he could easily tank. AA and KK would be the best option for defense. That leaves our resident Rainbow Drinker and the most powerful Psionic of our generation to tank." He looks up with a smug look. "Right?"

"That's right," Equius nods and looks over to Nepeta. "You will help me keep Signless, Psii, Dolorosa, and Disciple safe."

She salutes, giggling, "Sir, yes, sir."

He turns back to the husktop, "Princess, you are going to need to be prepared for anything from minor injuries to life threatening ones. I can't guarantee everyone will come back unscathed." He cuddles closer to me as he says the last part.

I know that he's worried about me. I apparently only have two nights to live if his plan doesn't work. Hell, I'm worried about me.

I've tuned out the conversation he's having with his team. The sun's going down. We'll have to leave soon. It's too much of a risk to stay any longer.

~Karkat's POV~

"How the fuck do you plan to get everyone BACK to the Lab once the fighting's over?" I inquire.

"Could Kanaya use her Space powers to send them up?" Feferi asks, mostly to Kanaya herself.

Kanaya shakes her head, "I am a Sylph. I heal space. We would need a Witch or Heir of either Space or Void to do that. In case you haven't noticed, our Heir of Void has not ascended!" She turns to the screen. "Have you?"

I'm surprised, to say the least, when Equius lifts his shaking hand and it disappears. "My Dreamself was in the Crypt on Derse's moon when it was destroyed," he says. He still sounds slightly scared but more relaxed. His hand reappears as he holds a white hoofbeast plush close to his chest. Something has gone seriously wrong with him. I'll have to ask Gamzee about it later.

"I put your Dreamself on the Void slab," Aradia chimes in, drawing everyone's attention. "What? I may hate him, but I don't want him to die." More weird looks. "I'm a TIME PLAYER! I knew Derse and Prospit were going to be destroyed. I knew before our session even started everything that was going to happen up to Gamzee going Rage mode on us. After that everything was dark. The only reason I wasn't there to stop it from happening at all was because I was testing my ability to actually make it that far back in time." She turns towards the screen. "Equius, I'm so sorry I didn't get to you sooner." He just nods in response, resting his head on my ancestor's shoulder.

"I've never tried to teleport anything," he quietly says. "I don't know if I can."

Sollux pushes my rollie-chair to the side and takes center frame. "Can you use any form of telekinesis yet?" Equius nods. "It's the same thing, just a little different. Do you have a marker or something that you could practice with?"

"I have some paintbrushes," Nepeta chimes, deploying about thirty different paintbrushes.

Sollux claps and points to the screen, "Yes! That's perfect AC." He turns his attention back to Equius. "Equius, levitate one paintbrush. Just one." When Equius does as he's told, Sollux puts his hands up to his head like he's trying to focus on something. "Awesome! Now focus on that paintbrush disappearing from that location and reappearing somewhere else in your line of sight."

Equius does as he's told. He focuses on the levitating brush. A few moments later, the paintbrush disappears into a cloud of navy-blue smoke. Not two seconds later, a woman that sound like Kanaya says, "Which one of you threw a paintbrush?" a little way away from the group.

Sollux, obviously ignoring the inquiry, instructs, "Now bring the brush back."

Equius focuses again. Seconds later, there's a large navy-blue puff of smoke and Kanaya's ancestor shows up next to my and Sollux's ancestors. She's holding the paintbrush. Equius looks both shocked and exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Sollux asks. Equius nods, mumbling something about being tired. "I'd expect you to be tired. What you just did takes a lot of energy. The more you practice, the easier it will get, and the less energy it will take. When you're a bit more comfortable with teleporting other things, try to teleport yourself. If you can teleport yourself, you can teleport anything and anyone. You have two nights to learn how to teleport yourself and five others across a huge distance."

"We can set up a landing point on the surface of the meteor," I say, turning to Kanaya. "Do you think you could get Rose to help with that? A Light player might be a helpful guide."

She smiles, glowing slightly brighter, "She is also a powerful Sorceress and Seer. If something goes wrong, she could prove quite useful."

"Good idea," I say. My attention once again goes back to the computer. "We'll get our side worked out. You guys should try to stay hidden. Especially you," I point to my ancestor. "I don't want to see any more fucking red than I have to! Got it?"


	13. Sun Runner

~Signless' POV~

We had barely finished packing our things when we heard rapidly approaching footsteps. When I look up, Sun Runners are at the mouth of the cave. One of them, a Captain by the looks of the insignia on her shoulder armour, looks between me and a paper before speaking.

"Signless?" she inquires. This woman looks so familiar.

I instinctively move to block her view of Equius, answering, "That would be me. Might I ask, what's going on?" She looks almost apologetic when she approaches us, handing me the flyer. It's a wanted poster.

"You and your companions are under arrest for heresy. You in particular already have an execution date set for two nights from now, by the Grand Highblood's orders." She hangs her head, almost shamefully. "I wish my squad wasn't the one to find you. You saved my matesprit a few sweeps ago." She looks back up to me as she pleads, "Please come peacefully. I don't want to have to hurt you."

After handing the flyer back to her, I look over my shoulder to my own matesprit. He looks extremely uncomfortable with the situation. "We won't fight," I say, turning back to her.

"NO!" Equius interjects, moving between me and the Sun Runner. "Karkat said to stay hidden! You can't take him." He's shaking, the beginning of a panic attack in his voice and body language. He's being protective even though he's absolutely terrified. He looks up at me. "Don't go with her. You CAN'T go with her. Please, Signless," he begs. His voice almost a whisper by the time he says my name.

I kneel in front of him, holding his hand. Brushing his hair out of his face, I say, "Equius, I have to go with her. We all do." I can tell that he wants to say something, but he's remains silent. He's too far gone in panic. "Where's Aurthour?" He starts frantically looking around for his plush hoofbeast.

Nepeta comes running over. "Equius," she calls, handing him the toy which he promptly holds tightly as he tries to calm himself. "Hiss is supposed to happen fur hiss timeline to be stable, remember?" She looks nervous as she tries to not panic, herself. She then leans closer to him and whispers, "The only thing we can change is how he's removed from the timeline."

He shakes his head, "It's not fair, though. This wouldn't happen in our time."

I gently wipe away the tears that escape his eyes. "Things are different now than they will be in your time, my child. We have two nights, remember? Two more nights."

The Sun Runner speaks up, "There's an hour until the sun goes down. We can't transport you until then. I suggest you spend that time wisely." With that she starts to walk away.

"Wait, ma'am," Psiioniic says, stopping her return to her squad. "How long is the trip from here to the Capital?" We all look to her in anticipation.

"If we don't stop during the trip," she replies, "we should be there just before sunrise." She turns and walks back to the mouth of the cave, rejoining her squad.

My full attention is now on Equius. He's still shaking and in tears, but at least he's talking. I'm not as worried now as I was a few minutes ago when he went non-verbal. "Equius, are you okay?"

He shakes his head, "I don't want to lose you." I pull him into my arms. "I c-can't lose you."

"You won't lose me," I place a gentle kiss on his cheek, before whispering, "You have a plan and it will work. I believe in you more than my own visions." He smiles a little at this. "How about you get some practice in before we have to go, okay?"

"Okay," he mumbles.

~Equius' POV~

Psiioniic sets up nine items in front of me. He says, "This is going to sort of be a memory game as well as a way for you to practice your teleportation." I nod. "I'm going to give you ten seconds to memorize this pattern. Okay? Go." I easily memorize the pattern in the time allotted. "Time. Now close your eyes."

I do as I'm told and close my eyes. I can hear him moving the objects around, changing the pattern. I think I can see where this is going. "Open your eyes," Signless instructs from his spot just to my right. "Using only your teleportation ability, put these nine items back in the original pattern. You won't be timed this time, but next round you will be. This first time is just to see if you can do it. Okay?"

I nod and focus on teleporting the items. The first five items I successfully rearrange. The sixth, however, doesn't cooperate. The hairbrush Nepeta had provided for the exercise disappears from its current spot in the line and reappears on the other end of the cave, flying at the Sun Runners. I reach out telekinetically and catch it less than an inch from the Captain's head. Fear washes over me when she plucks the brush out of the air and starts to make her way over to us.

"Is this yours?" she asks, handing me the brush. My eyes are wide, and I am frozen in place. "It's okay, kid. I'm not mad." She sits beside me. "I am a bit curious though. What are you practicing?"

"T-teleportation," I stutter.

Her eyes light up. "Can you show me?"

I look over to Signless, whom nods. Turning my full attention back to the items laid out in front of me, I bite my lip and try to focus. The remaining items are in their original order in only a few moments. My vision is blurry for a second. I feel someone ruffle my hair.

"Good job, kid," Psiioniic says. "How are you feeling?"

"Dizzy," I reply.

He laughs a little. "That's normal when your first learning. It takes a lot out of you to use such a strong ability."

I smile a little, leaning on Signless. "I just need to practice. Can you set it up again?"

~Signless' POV~

I pull Equius into my lap as Psii sets up the next pattern. A small smile tugs at my lips when he rests his head on my shoulder. He looks tired, but I know him too well to try and get him to sleep. I'll most likely wind up carrying him at some point between here and the Capital. I look over to where Nepeta is curled up with Disciple, both sound asleep.

"You two seem close," the Sun Runner breaks the silence of the cave. Equius flinches when she speaks, most likely not expecting the sound. "Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you."

I smile kindly at her as I explain, "I'm his guardian. And, I don't think you scared him so much as you just startled him a little. He has severe anxiety, especially around strangers."

"Did his lusus abuse him? Is that why he has anxiety?"

Equius glares at her. "Aurthour would never have hurt me!" he snaps, holding his plush hoofbeast close to his chest as tears form in his eyes. His voice is barely above a whisper when he continues, "He died a long time ago."


	14. I'm SO Sorry

~Signless' POV~

Equius went through six more rounds of the memory game before we had to leave, effectively exhausting him. Despite his exhaustion, he insists he can walk on his own. We've been on the road for about an hour. Nepeta seems to have forgotten that we're technically prisoners, and is running around, having the time of her life. Naturally, me and Disciple are paying more attention to her than Equius.

"Keep moving, kid," a very annoyed Sun Runner commands before I hear a thud and a pained groan a little way behind me. "Get up!"

I look over my shoulder, seeing a Sun Runner standing over Equius, about to kick him. "HEY!" I bark, running over to them. I shove the Sun Runner before she's able to kick him, her Captain close behind. "What's wrong with you?!" I demand, pulling Equius protectively into my arms. "Are you okay?" His only response is to turn his head, hiding his face in my shoulder.

"Donnah!" the Captain chastises. "We are under STRICT orders from Executor Darkleer to leave the children alone. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am, Captain Ameera!" she salutes as she backs away.

Ameera watches as her subordinate scurries off before turning her attention to Equius and I. "Are you okay?" she asks, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Equius does not take that well. He whimpers, trying to get closer to me and farther from her. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" she adds, immediately pulling her hand away.

"Please, DON'T touch me," Equius hisses, glancing at her for only a second.

"Are you okay?" I ask again. He just nods, rubbing his eyes. "Tired?" Another nod. "I can carry you, if you want." I get no response this time. "Equius?" Again, no response. He's already sound asleep, his head resting on my shoulder.

Ameera giggles at the admittedly adorable scene before her. "I guess that's your answer," she says as we both stand.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, I have to ask. "Hey, Captain. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"You said that Executor Darkleer doesn't want Equius and Nepeta to be harmed. Does that mean that they'll be safe?" My eyes don't leave Equius' sleeping face. I know my child more than he thinks I do. He won't take it very well if we get separated once we reach the Capital. This leaves me with a huge decision to make, and her answer might help me decide.

She takes a deep breath before answering. "As far as I can tell, yes. I don't know why, but that man seems to want Equius in particular to stay safe. I haven't the slightest clue why, though."

"His instinct to protect his bloodline, probably."

"Excuse me?"

"Equius and Nepeta are from a few hundred sweeps into the future. From after the death of this world. Darkleer is Equius' ancestor." I finally look up to her. "That's why he wants Equius safe."

I was right, she did help.

~Equius' POV~ (Time skip)

"Equius?" Signless calls, pulling me from a dreamless sleep. "It's time to wake up, my child. We're almost to the Capital."

My eyes flutter open and I look around. I've never been to the Capital before. Despite it not being the modern metropolis of my time, the city is still quite a sight to behold. I knew that some of the skyscrapers had been here for a long time, I just never even imagined that they were here in the time of our ancestors. A few buildings are under construction. Judging by their hexagonal design, these buildings are going to be communal hive stems.

"Everybody, listen up," Captain Ameera calls. "The sun will be up in a few hours. It would take longer than that to go around the city, so we'll be going straight through the city. Stay together and don't get lost." She turns her attention to the other Sun Runners. "Runners, this is not a perp walk. Don't treat it like one. We're simply escorting these folks to the Capital Building and no one needs to know otherwise. Understood?" Her address seems to be pointed directly at Donnah, the Runner that tried to kick me earlier. She nods, satisfied that her message has been received. "Okay then. Let's go."

~Signless' POV~

By the time we reach the Capital Building's street, Equius has taken Disciple's place trying to keep Nepeta from wandering off. Disciple in turn has made her way to the back of the group with me. I can tell she's nervous by the way she's been stuttering and stumbling over her words for the last hour.

"Do you think they'll separate us?" she inquires.

My gaze drops to the ground. "I have no idea. They might, though."

"I-I don't want to get separated. It's n-not fair."

I wrap an arm around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. "I don't want that either, but we have no control over it. Just don't fight them. Okay? I'd rather be away from you than to see you get hurt." She just nods in response.

My attention is pulled from my moirail when I hear Equius yelling at someone. Before I have time to register what happened, he runs and hides behind me.

~Equius' POV~

"Equius, stop acting like a child," Darkleer commands. "You and the girl with the tail are to come with me, this instant."

I hide behind Signless, trying not to panic. "No!" I shout. "I refuse to be separated from my guardian."

That seems to anger him further. "You are acting like a child, Equius. Cease this foolishness immediately."

I close my eyes tightly and wait for a rough hand to drag me away from Signless. Instead, I hear laughter. Why is Signless laughing? This is not funny!

"Are you actually telling a child to stop acting like a child?" he laughs. I peek out from behind Signless to see the dumbfounded look on my ancestor's face. "You might as well tell the wind itself to stop blowing while you're at it. Equius may be quite mature for his age, but he's still only six sweeps old and does occasionally act his age. On top of that, he's stressed out and, judging by how he ran straight to me instead of standing his ground, on the verge of having a panic attack. Why don't you try telling him where you're taking him and Nepeta instead of just commanding him to follow a stranger!" By now, Signless has gone from laughing to shouting. Psiioniic has made his way to us as well. He looks to be ready to fight, but Signless stops him before he can. With a calmer voice, he adds, "Or you could tell him where you intend to send me. Either way, you can't possibly expect him to blindly follow orders from someone he doesn't fully know or trust. It took a week for him to trust Disciple. He didn't trust Dolorosa for almost a full month. He still doesn't trust that people outside of our group won't hurt him."

"I'm his ancestor," Darkleer interjects in annoyance.

Signless nods. "And I'm his guardian. We are the two people on this planet that he should be able to trust above all else, but he doesn't trust you. Try a different approach."

My ancestor takes a deep breath before kneeling down to my level. "I apologize for my rudeness. I will be escorting you and your friend with the tail-"

"Nepeta," I interrupt. "And she's my Moirail."

"Nepeta," he continues, "to your designated quarters where you shall stay until more permanent arrangements are made. Will you please follow me?"

I glare at him. He's trying to be nice and gain my trust, but I know how it all ends. He's the one that will kill Signless if my plan doesn't work. I glance over at Nepeta for a moment before looking to Signless. He just nods, wordlessly letting me know that it's okay. I turn my attention back to Darkleer. "Where will you be sending Signless?"

"The dungeon," he replies. "I have no control over where he goes, my child."

"Don't call me that!" I snap. "Only Signless is allowed to call me that. You may call me by my name only."

"Of course."

"If Signless is going to the dungeon, then I'll go with him." I'm being stubborn. I know that this is a bad idea, but I can't let myself be taken from him. I need to be with him until Karkat and the rest of the team get here.

Signless smiles sadly down at me before stepping aside and nudging me towards my ancestor. "Go with him, Equius." I just shake my head, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. I'm about to protest when Signless turns and walks over to the guards, sparing only one sorrowful glance over his shoulder back at me. I just freeze, a feeling of betrayal and fear washes over me like a tidal wave. The rest of the group, save Nepeta, follow him. I just feel numb as Darkleer guides me and Nepeta through the building's entrance, away from Signless.

~Signless' POV~

"If Signless is going to the dungeon, then I'll go with him," Equius states firmly. I had hoped that Darkleer giving him more information would help, but there's an air of finality to Equius' words. I don't want to send Equius away, but I've heard stories of what happens to prisoners in the Capital. I don't want him to be exposed to any of that senseless violence.

With a sad smile, I give Equius a gentle push towards his ancestor, saying, "Go with him, Equius."

I feel something in me break when he can't even argue with me. He just shakes his head, indigo tears forming in his eyes, and freezes. I can't do this. I can't stay here and watch the betrayal take over his gaze. He won't walk away. I know he won't.

So I do. I turn and walk away, towards the guards that will soon take me to a cell. I look over my shoulder. Equius looks so lost and broken. The light in his eyes almost completely extinguished, smothered by silent tears. Bad idea, very BAD idea. I have to look away before my resolve leaves me.

"Equius," Darkleer says, "time to go." I can almost hear sympathy in his voice. I can hear three sets of footsteps moving away from me. I don't think Equius even realizes that he's moving.

The second I hear the door close behind them, I turn to Psiioniic. I cling to him and quietly cry on his shoulder. I don't like being away from Equius. I HATE everything about this entire situation. It's not fair!

It's only slightly comforting to know that he'll be safe with his ancestor.

I'm sorry, Equius. I'm so sorry.


	15. The Day Before

~Equius' POV~

"Equius?" Darkleer asks. He had been trying to talk to me, but I wasn't listening. "Are you okay?"

I continue to ignore him as he leads Nepeta and I to our rooms. Hopefully he won't separate us again. He already took Signless from me. Will he take Nepeta from me too? More tears come to my eyes at the thought.

Nepeta grabs my hand, saying, "It's okay, Equius."

"No it's not," I say, wiping away indigo tears. "It's really not okay."

"What's wrong?" Darkleer inquires.

"You're going to kill him," I reply with venom dripping from my words.

"If it's any consolation, he should have died a long time ago. Mutants are supposed to be culled shortly after they hatch."

"BUT HE WASN'T!" I shout. "He survived! Doesn't that count for ANYTHING?! Or does his blood color mean more to you people than the fact that he's lived a PEACEFUL life? Or that he's taken care of me when I had NOBODY?!"

He bows his head, a look of shame in his eyes. "I have no more control over this than you do."

I can't help but glare daggers at him. "Who does?"

"The Grand Highblood might be able to do something."

"I guess I just need to speak with him then. Lead the way."

He shows Nepeta to her room, then takes me to see the Grand Highblood.

~Signless' POV~

The guards stop us at a large cell. The Sun Runners have long since left, off to their next assignment most likely. I've fallen to the back of the group. I just feel numb. I hope Equius and Nepeta are okay.

"Hold on a second," one of the guards says as he makes his way over to us. He roughly grabs my arm. "So you're the mutant everyone's been going on about." I just stare blankly at him. What's the point in responding? He'll probably just drag me away and beat me anyways. That's what happens to people waiting to be executed around here. "Not talkative, huh? That's okay. We'll hear your voice one way or another," he laughs. "Won't we, boys?" A few guards join him in laughter. My eyes widen slightly in fear.

"If you hurt him, I swear I'll FRY YOU!" Psii growls from behind the bars of the now locked cell.

I'm only able to send a fearful glance at my matesprit as I'm dragged away. A little way down the hall, one of the guards opens the door to a room, the only walled off part of the dungeon. There's blood everywhere. I thought I was scared before. Now I'm terrified.

I try to take a step away only to be harshly shoved into the room.

~Equius' POV~

"This will start a war and you know it!" shouts a very angry Summoner as he storms out of the throne room. He almost runs into us in his blind rage.

"Summoner," Darkleer states, almost surprised. "What was that all about?"

"You need to talk some damn sense into him," he huffs. "Killing Signless is only going to start a fucking war, but he's too pissed to care! What did he do to get on Highblood's bad side anyways?"

"Signless did absolutely nothing," Darkleer explains, shaking his head.

Summoner practically growls at this. "Well he must've done something! Highblood's more pissed at him than he is at me, and I'm his kismesis. Fix this, NOW!"

As Summoner walks away, Darkleer calls after him, "Feeling a bit threatened, Summoner?"

"Fuck you, Darkleer!" he responds as we make our way into the throne room.

My ancestor is still chuckling when he walks right up to the Grand Highblood. I feel slight panic rise seeing this. Is he suicidal? He has to be to approach the Grand Highblood without asking permission. I'm surprised when he pulls Darkleer into his lap, holding him close.

"Equius would like to speak to you," Darkleer says.

The Grand Highblood laughs, "Then speak kid. What's on your mind?"

"Why?" I mumble, too scared to speak up. I can feel my whole body shaking. Flashes of Gamzee pass over my vision. I glance down at my hand, flickering in and out of visibility. Clenching my hand into a tight fist, I look back up and shout, "WHY?! Why does he have to die?!"

He laughs, a booming sound that rattles the very walls around us. "'Why does he have to die?'" he mimics, laughing even more. "That freak will die because he's a mutant and, frankly, I don't fucking like him! Why do you fucking care?! You're a highblood. He's a mutant. Unless you share a quadrant with him, you really shouldn't care. He's beneath you!"

"He's my guardian, and the ancestor of my team's leader! He took care of me after YOUR descendant shot me, raped me and tried to murder me! HE SAVED ME! When I had NOTHING, I had Signless." I feel tears rolling freely down my cheeks as my legs give out from under me. I can feel my power pulsing. My emotions manifest themselves in the form of dark navy-blue smoke swirling around me when my knees hit the ground. "Your bloodline has taken everything from me, and now you're taking him too!"

~Signless' POV~

Another fist lands on my side. It takes every ounce of willpower to hold back my scream as one of my ribs gives way and breaks on impact. I would drop to the ground in pain if my hands weren't bound over my head by a chain attached to the middle of the ceiling. They want me to scream. They've been beating, whipping, and cutting me for hours now. My vision is blurry. My head is light. I can feel my blood slowly pouring from my open wounds. At this rate, I'll be dead before my execution.

"You really are a stubborn one," one of the guards says, "aren't you, mutant?"

I smirk at him. A feeling of satisfaction with their frustration washes over me. "You know, I keep trying to tell my mother the same. She doesn't seem to believe me." I earn a hard, right hook to the jaw for that. Worth it.

He takes another large swig of whatever alcohol he has in that precious canteen of his. It must be ale by the smell of it on his breath. He laughs, pulling a sharp blade from the wall where it had been lodged when his comrade got frustrated and threw it. He examines it as he circles me like a predator stalking its prey. "If you won't scream, then I'll give your precious mother a reason to cry when we throw you in that cell." Once he's standing right in front of me, he grabs my shoulder hard enough to bruise. He takes the knife and slowly carves something into my chest. I can't help but wince at the excruciating pain, but I don't scream. I set my jaw and bite my lip, but I do NOT scream. When I don't scream, he growls and moves on to my left arm. Again, I don't scream. He then moves to carve my right arm. I, once again, refuse to scream.

"I ought to chain you up and set his mate loose on you," calls a female voice from the door. All eyes are on her in an instant. Ameera struts over, confidence and anger burning in her jade eyes. She wipes the blood away from the carved letters in my chest. "'Lowblood'," she reads. She does the same with the carvings on my arms. "'Sufferer' and 'Mutant'. You have a way of stating the obvious." She turns to the man that spent the last few hours torturing me. "Let him down, Dyrrin. Let his family tend to his wounds."

"He'll die tomorrow night anyways," he retorts. "I say, let him bleed!"

She pulls a double headed hatchet from her belt and swiftly cut the chains holding me up, catching me as I fall. Darkness slowly consumes my vision as she speaks. "He has one last day to live. Let him spend it with his mother, his moirail, and his mate. Not alone and bleeding in a torture chamber."

The drunk guard's reply is lost to me as I slip into unconsciousness.


	16. Wounds

~Equius' POV~

It's midday and I've been sulking in me and Nepeta's room since I had a panic attack in front of the Grand Highblood. Nepeta had to be called to calm me down. She's been worried about me since. Apparently, my powers as the Heir of Void have fully transferred from my dreamself to me. I'm currently sitting on the window sill in my god tier uniform, indigo wings twitching every now and then. It will take a while to get used to them.

A knock pulls my attention to the door. "Come in," Nepeta calls.

"Equius?" Ameera inquires. I just look over to her. "You need to come with me."

My glance turns to a hard glare. "Why should I?" My eyes follow her path to the spot on the small sill in front of me.

She reaches towards me, but I flinch away. "I won't hurt you, Equius. I promise." She gently wipes away the tears that were flowing down my cheek. "The prison guards hurt Signless really badly. I thought you might want to go make sure he's okay."

With a nod, we're off. She leads me through corridors and down stairs. There were so many turns that I lost track. We soon reached a dark stairway. Beyond that, I smelt blood. Mutant blood. Signless' blood. My wings twitch for a moment before I take off, flying down the stairs. When I come to a metal door at the bottom, I teleport through it. I follow the scent of my guardian's blood through the dungeon, past more cells than I care to think of and a walled off room. The second I'm past that room, I see them. My family in a cage. I teleport the rest of the way.

"What happened?" I ask, so quietly I can barely hear myself, as I drop to my knees. Signless is unconscious in Psiioniic's arms. He's bleeding from whiplashes and cuts all over his body. There are bruises forming over his ribs and stomach. Dark hand prints have formed on his arm and shoulder. Dolorosa is on the other side of the cell, doing her best to keep Disciple calm. "Who did this?"

"His name is Dyrrin," Ameera informs from outside the bars. "He's a lieutenant in the Grand Highblood's Royal Guard. The bastard gets off on torturing prisoners. He's a drunk above all else. It's a good thing Signless didn't scream." She glances to the stairway, almost like she's waiting for someone. "I-it's worse when they scream." She looks genuinely upset.

"Captain Ameera," rings the cheerful voice of a small girl. A young girl, three sweeps at the most, comes running down the hall carrying a large bowl of water and a cloth. She comes to a stop in front of the cell. "Warm water and a clean cloth, just like you asked, m'lady," she says. I can see the yellow bruise on her arm, in the shape of a hand larger than Ameera's, and the brand on her thigh from here. This girl is a slave, but not Ameera's.

"Thank you, Sircee," she says, patting the girl gently on the head. "Now go back to my room before you're seen." The girl nods with a smile and runs off. Ameera expertly balances the large bowl on her arm as she unlocks the cell. She doesn't bother to relock it after entering and making her way over to us. Kneeling by me, she dips the rag into the water, rings it out, and sets to cleaning the blood from Signless' skin. When she turns over his hand, the word "Mutant" is carved into his arm. "This should never have happened," she says quietly. "Signless has done nothing wrong. They're going to kill him for no reason but the color of his blood. There is nothing we can do about it, and the Grand Highblood doesn't seem to care."

Another clean cloth materializes in my hand as she speaks. Copying her, I set to work cleaning some of the many cuts littering Signless' body, starting with the "Sufferer" carved into his other arm. "It's not that the Grand Highblood doesn't care," I say. "He told me that he doesn't like Signless. Him being a mutant is just an excuse to get rid of him." I move to a cut higher on his arm. "Ameera, can you keep a secret?"

She seems to be surprised by this question, freezing for only a moment. She hums in contemplation before finally saying, "That would depend on the secret. Are you planning to hurt anyone?"

"No," I shake my head.

"Are you planning to hurt yourself?"

I shake my head again. "No. I don't think I could even if I wanted to."

Psiioniic looks at me with a worried expression. I smile weakly at him in an attempt to put him at ease. I don't know if it works or if he's just more worried about his mate, but he looks back down to Signless after a second.

"I think I'll be able to keep your secret," she says with a soft smile.

I take a shaky breath. I know I shouldn't tell her but having an ally like her might help. "I have friends that are like me and Nepeta. They're on a meteor right now, traveling through the Void. They'll arrive here tomorrow night." I look up at her. "We're not going to let Signless die. We're getting-" I'm cut off by the sound of a hoofbeast neighing. Someone is trying to video chat with me. I set the, now bloody, cloth in the bowl and retrieve my olive green husktop to answer the call.

"Hey, Equius," Karkat greets the second I click the green answer button. "Nepeta told us that you went full God Tier." He seems to look around me, staring off to the right side of the screen. A wide-eyed look of horror appears on his face as he asks, "W-what ha-happened?"

"Drunk prison guard on a power trip," I say as shortly as I can. That's the only way I can think to describe what happened.

~Karkat's POV~

"I-is," I stutter, "is h-he?" I can't finish that question.

"Alive," Equius responds, looking over his shoulder at Signless. I let out the breath I had no idea I had been holding. He looks back to me and continues, in a much quieter voice, "At least for now. He needs Feferi."

"I'll let her know. I know I won't like the answer, but I have to ask." I take a deep breath. "How bad is he?"

Equius looks down to his lap. It must be bad if he can't look me in the eye and tell me. "Do you remember the condition my fighting bots were usually in after going a few rounds with me?" he asks.

No. Please no. Please, gods, don't let it be that bad.

"We all remember," I say, my voice cracking slightly. "You still have a pile of bot parts in the Lab." He goes silent. "Equius, please tell me you're just reminiscing." I feel tears roll down my cheeks. "Don't tell me it's that bad." He, too, is in tears when he looks back up.

"Imagine a living, breathing, bleeding version of that."

"Yo," Dave says from behind me.

I stand and spin around to face him, my chair clattering to the ground in the process. "FUCK OFF, STRIDER! I'M NOT IN THE FUCKING MOOD TO DEAL WITH YOUR COOL DUDE SHIT! JUST GO AWAY!"

He puts his hands up and takes off his shades. "Not here for that, Kitkat, I promise. See? The shades are off. Aradia wanted me to come tell you that we'll be entering Alternia's upper atmosphere in a few hours. She said that it'll be just after sunset. Your ancestor okay?"

"H-he's hurt," I say, my voice shaking. As I retrieve my chair, Dave stares at the screen of the computer I had chosen.

"Hey, uh, Equius, right?" Equius nods. "Has the bleeding slowed any?"

Equius takes a moment to check the cuts on Signless' arm. I wince, catching a glimpse of "Sufferer" deeply carved into his flesh. "No," Equius says simply.

Dave focuses intensely on the screen. After a moment, his eyes seem to light up. I know that look. He has an idea. "You're into robotics, right? Do you have a soldering iron in your sylladex?"

"Of course," he states.

"Do you think it gets hot enough to cauterize a wound?" Equius' eyes go wide and the color drains from his face as realization dawns on him. "I've seen your work. Vriska's arm. Tavros' legs. Most doctors where I'm from couldn't do that. On my planet, Vriska would have bled to death after losing her arm. Tavros and Nepeta would still be paralyzed. It's going to hurt like hell, but cauterizing those cuts is the best thing you can do for him right now. It'll keep him alive long enough for us to get Feferi to him."

He sighs, "I think I have a better tool than a soldering iron."

~Equius' POV~

I quickly search through my sylladex and find the cauterizing iron I used while attaching Vriska's arm and Tavros' legs. "He's going to hate me when he wakes up," I mumble. I turn to Psiioniic. "I need you to hold him still."

"You're not actually considering this," Ameera questions. "Are you?" I retrieve a power hub from my sylladex as well. Dave laughs at Ameera's worried tone.

"Lady," Dave laughs. "you must be new. You see that kid?" He points to me as I tie up my hair. I'd rather not light it on fire. Again. I can feel Ameera's eyes on me. "When Vriska lost her arm, he stopped the bleeding and built her a new one. Tavros was paralyzed from the waist down and stuck in a wheelchair. Equius built him a new set of legs. Until he ascended, the only place that kid couldn't go was up or down stairs, and that's only because his balance was shit. You know that tail Nepeta has? Equius built it along with the robotic spine it's attached to. Equius, why don't you tell them what happened."

Psiioniic holds Signless' arm still as I expertly cauterize the bleeding cuts without burning uninjured flesh. Even unconscious from blood loss, he still whimpers from the pain. "There was a landslide near her hive. She was unfortunate enough to be caught in the middle of it." I wring out one of the rags in the bowl and wipe away more blood before continuing. "Her C6 was cracked and her entire thoracic spine was crushed. She was paralyzed from the neck down." I finish with the wounds on his left arm and move on to the cuts left in his chest. "Karkat's the one that found her and called me. She was lucky to be alive. It took a while to build her a new spine, but I did, and it worked."

"Why the tail though?" Psiioniic asks. When I started working on the cuts in Signless' chest, he had moved to hold him down by his shoulders.

A small smile tugs at my lips as I remember how her face lit up in joy the first time she saw her tail. "She loves meowbeasts and I wanted her to smile." My smile fades fast when I hear Signless groan in pain. I look up to his face just as his eyes start to open.

~Signless' POV~

I feel a burning pain in my arm and then in my chest. I groan as my eyes flutter open. The first thing I see is Psiioniic's worried two-tone eyes. I look around and find Equius and Ameera on either side of me. I try to sit up, but something's holding me down.

"That's not a good idea," Equius says. "The shallower cuts have stopped bleeding, but some of the carvings still do. The ones that aren't bleeding are the ones I've already cauterized." He looks down to the tool held delicately in his hand. "I'm sorry, but I have to finish."

I place my hand gently on his arm, effectively gaining his attention. "It's okay," I say, trying to sound calm.

"I don't have anything to help with the pain," he warns.

I take a deep breath, calming myself. "Equius, it's okay," I repeat, more firmly this time.

He nods once before going back to his task. He was right, it does hurt. It feels like fire across already damaged flesh. I set my jaw and close my eyes tightly, doing my best not to move. Psii helps with that, firmly holding me down by my shoulders. After a few minutes, he finishes with the deep cuts across my chest and moves on to my other arm. At some point, I passed out again.


	17. Revealed Secrets

~Signless' POV~

By the time I woke up, Equius has finished treating my wounds. He's now sound asleep, leaning on Psii.

"How long was I out?" I ask quietly.

Psiioniic smiles down at me. "Only a couple of hours," he whispers as he lays Equius down, careful not to wake him, and moves to help me sit up. "Are you okay?"

"I think so," I reply with a smile.

Psii just shakes his head. "How can you still smile after what they did to you?" he questions before kissing me softly.

"Glad I can't see," someone calls. "KK, he's up." Sollux wanders off screen when we look over to Equius' husktop. Karkat runs from across the room towards the computer on his end. He trips over a few bent pieces of metal about half way across the room, landing flat on his face. He freezes for a second before scrambling back to his feet. He walks the rest of the way, looking around for other obstacles. "You faceplanted, didn't you?" Sollux laughs from off screen.

"SHUT UP!" my descendant shouts as he takes a seat and turns to us. "Are you okay?"

I smile again, "I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" he inquires. He looks like he's about ready to cry.

"Karkat," I say, "I'm okay."

He looks around for a second before glancing back down to his hands. He pulls up his sleeve and traces the scars on his arm. "I don't know how, but those scars on your arms and chest wind up being transferred to the next generation. I wear long sleeves to hide them." He pulls his sleeve back down, cautiously looking around again. "How bad are your injuries?"

"I'm okay," I say firmly, trying to avoid having to talk about my problems.

"Broken ribs, whiplashes, bruises, and cuts," Psii informs. I just pout at him. He knows that I don't like to talk about myself, especially when I'm hurt or not feeling well. "What? He's your descendant." I just pout more and cross my arms. This pulls at the whiplashes on my back, making me wince. Psii kisses my cheek. "You okay?" he asks. I just nod, trying to ignore the flare of sharp pain across my back.

~Karkat's POV~

I don't like seeing my ancestor in pain. Instead, I turn my attention to the intercom control on the desk next to my computer station. A half drank mug of coffee, a few framed pictures, some papers, and a bright red crab plush are also gathered on my station. Pressing a button, I ask, "Aradia, how long until we reach Alternia?"

A few moments of silence pass before she answers, "We're still about three hours out. We'll be there just in time for Signless' scheduled execution."

"That doesn't leave us much time to save him," I reply. I press a different button on the panel, the one for a general announcement instead of a direct message. "Feferi, come down to the computer lab."

"Which one is Feferi, again?" Signless asks.

"I'm the Witch of Life and the only remaining Heiress," Fef says from behind me. She, like most of us on this gods-forsaken rock, is not in her God Tier uniform. She sits on the armrest of my chair as she examines what she can see of Signless' injuries. "Can you hold your arm a little closer to the screen? I'd like to try and gauge some of the damage." Signless does as he's told, presenting the cauterized wounds spelling out "Mutant". She fetches a notepad and a pen from her Sylladex. "I'm so sorry this happened to you," she says as she takes down some notes. "It's truly unfortunate that some Trolls believe it right to put down others based on a flawed hierarchy. A Troll's worth should be calculated by their achievements and contributions to society, not their blood color and sign." She finally looks up, sending a smile of admiration his way. "I've read Disciple's journal. Honestly, I wish people took your teachings more seriously instead of brushing them off as the words of an idealist. Your ideas truly are ahead of your time."

Signless smiles back, looking almost excited to hear her praise. "I'm glad to hear that," he says.

"What time is it?" I hear Equius ask from off screen.

~Equius' POV~

I look around, rubbing sleep from my eyes. For a moment, I didn't know where I was. I had gotten so used to waking up in Signless' arms that I didn't know where I was otherwise. My hands are shaking. All I saw in my dreams was dark purple. All I heard was Gamzee's laughter. I move to curl up with Signless, seeking some form of comfort.

"Hi Equius," Feferi calls in her way to cheerful voice. "Which dream bubble did you visit?"

I shake my head, saying, "I don't visit the dream bubbles, Princess."

"What?" She looks shocked for a moment before sighing exasperatedly, "Did the Horrorterrors not place you? I'm so sorry. I'll talk to them the second I can."

"That's not necessary, Princess," I mumble just loud enough for her to hear me.

She and Karkat both look shocked now. "What?" Karkat asks. "We ALL go to the dream bubbles when we go to sleep. If the Horrorterrors left you out, we need to fix that! It's not fair to you."

"No, it's not fair!" I snap. "The Horrorterrors didn't leave me out on purpose. The memories won't let me go to the dream bubbles." I look down to where my finger is just barely ghosting over the cauterized cuts on Signless' arm, methodically tracing the characters. "Everytime I close my eyes all I see is purple. If I'm unlucky enough to dream, I'm thrown back to what he did. If I don't dream, I hear his laughter until I wake up."

"What _did_ Gamzee do to you?" Karkat asks. I flinch at his name, hugging my knees closer to my chest. When I say nothing, Karkat continues, "We all know that he tried to kill you, but he tried to kill literally all of us. What did he do to you that was so fucking bad?!"

I just glare at him. "Something completely unforgivable," I say flatly.

"He's done a LOT of unforgivable shit, dumbass," Sollux calls from off screen. "I'm pretty sure the only unforgivable thing he hasn't done was rape anybody."

"No, he's done that, too," I mumble, venom in my voice.

All three of them are silent and unmoving. I'm worried I lost signal for a moment before the look on Feferi's face morphs from shocked to murderous. "I'M GOING TO GLUBBING KILL THAT PSY-AQUATIC CLOWNFISH!" she shouts. A golden trident appears in her hand as she pushes off the arm of the chair.

"Oh, no you're not," Sollux says, catching her by her waist with his psionics. "We need him. His Ancestor is going to be at the execution, and I doubt a six sweep old Heiress will be able to keep the _Grand Highblood_ himself at bay if he decides to do literally anything."

~Signless' POV~

"Can we change the subject?" I request. I don't like how this conversation is affecting Equius. He was already scared when he came and sat by me. Now he's not just shaking, but he's also flickering in and out of visibility. I pull him into my lap, wrapping my arms around him. Doing this pulls at my injuries, but I just ignore the pain in favor of calming Equius. I'd rather he not have a full-blown panic attack a few hours before his friends get here. He's already going to be stressed out enough, as is.

Feferi seems to ignore me as she turns to Sollux, whom has now moved into the frame, and hisses, "I need a better reason than 'we need him' to keep me from killing him right now!"

"He took down Equius Zahhak!" Sollux snaps at her. "He's the strongest of ALL OF US, and Gamzee took him down. What do you think he could do to you if you pissed him off, FF?" He pauses for a moment, letting her think. "He could easily kill you. The only people he won't hurt are KK and Tavros."

I feel something wet hit my shoulder. Tears. Equius is silently crying as he focuses on gently tracing the symbols carved into my chest. I look back to the screen where two of his friends are now arguing. My descendant notices my glare and manages to catch the other two's attention, motioning to me. "Change the subject or stop talking," I state with as much authority as I can muster.

Feferi takes a deep breath before asking, "Is what I'm seeing the worst of your injuries?"

"No," Equius answers for me. "The cauterized injuries are just the ones that didn't stop bleeding on their own. He has whip lashes on his back and shoulders and three broken ribs on his left side. I think something in him is slowly bleeding, but I can't tell. The bruise on his side is getting bigger. It's almost doubled in size since I last checked it. I'm also worried about the possibility of a concussion because of the bruise on his cheek and some swelling on his forehead. Not much, but enough to warrant concern."

"Do you have a way of checking on that slow bleed?" Karkat inquires. All the color in his face has drained, a look of horror and nausea taking over.

He just shakes his head, "I don't have that kind of equipment in my sylladex." He sounds so sad.

"How about the concussion?" Sollux asks. "Could you check that?"

"He's not showing signs of it yet," Equius responds. "That doesn't mean that it can be ruled out. Signs of a concussion can stay hidden for quite some time."

Footsteps from the other end of the dungeon pulls my attention away from the conversation. Someone's coming and I don't think it's Ameera. The steps are too heavy. I gently move Equius out of my lap and make my way over to the bars of the cell to try and see who was approaching.


	18. Shackles

~Equius' POV~

I'm surprised when Signless moves me off his lap and walks to the bars, then I hear the footsteps. I quickly end the video chat and captalog my husktop. Shifting out of visibility, I move to stand beside Signless, placing my hand over his on the bar just so he knows I'm here. The footsteps grow louder, as well as the voices accompanying them.

"He had better still be able to walk," Darkleer growls to whoever he is with.

"Of course he can still walk," the other person says. "I didn't hurt his legs."

Signless tenses at the second voice. I look up to his face and see nothing but panic and fear. The other man must be Dyrrin. I let go of Signless' hand as he takes a shaky step away from the bars. Then another step. And another. He's visibly shaking. I want to comfort him in some way, but I have to stay hidden. Psiioniic comes up beside Signless and wraps his arms around him. He whispers something, but I can't hear him.

Confident that my guardian is in good hands, I turn my attention back to the two approaching. I teleport out of the cell and down the hall, to the metal door at the entrance to the stairwell. I press myself against the wall and wait. A few seconds later, the door swings open. The two that exit make their way to my family's cell. I silently follow them, not trusting that Signless won't be harmed again.

"Signless," my ancestor addresses, "the Grand Highblood wishes to speak with you."

Signless is frozen in place, fearful eyes locked with Dyrrin's. Said indigo blood, has a sadistic smirk spread across his face. I would love nothing more than to harm him like he did Signless, but I must remain hidden for as long as possible. Luckily, I won't have to reveal myself just yet.

"Why?" Dolorosa inquires, sleep heavy in her voice. She had woken up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. Next to her, Disciple is starting to wake as well.

"The Grand Highblood's reasoning is none of your concern," Darkleer replies.

Dolorosa is on her feet and glowing now. She marches right up to the bars and growls, "That is my CHILD you are taking away! I DEMAND to know why!"

Both outsiders take a step away from the bars. They've obviously never been in the presence of an angry rainbow drinker before. "Allow me to rephrase my previous statement," Darkleer cautiously responds. "I, myself, am not in a position to inquire as to the Grand Highblood's reasoning, therefore, I do not have the information which you seek. I can only provide that he wishes to speak with Signless before his execution."

He's lying. I know he's lying. I saw how the Grand Highblood acted with Darkleer. I saw how he held him close. Those two are matesprits. Darkleer most likely just didn't want or care to ask.

Before I can do anything regretful, I feel electricity in the air. My eyes dart to Psiioniic. Sparks are flying from the corners of his eyes. He's angry. Like Signless, his eyes are locked on Dyrrin, but not in fear. Psiioniic is glaring at the royal guard in pure, platonic hatred.

"I thought I told you not to hurt Signless," he hisses.

Dyrrin laughs, "I don't take orders from a piss-blood slave like you." He steps closer to the bars. "It's so unfortunate that Ameera showed up before we could have any real fun, mutant," he taunts. "I would've fucked you better than that mate of yours ever could."

~Signless' POV~

My eyes go wide at this statement. He wouldn't have actually done that, right? I lean closer to Psii. There's no way I would be able to defend myself against that sadist, but Psii could. Within seconds, I feel a second pair of arms around me. Disciple growls at Dyrrin as she too holds me protectively. Not even being held by my matesprit and my moirail makes me feel safe.

"Dyrrin!" Darkleer snaps. The look on his face is one of pure disgust. "If I find out you have EVER done something that heinous to anyone, I will do everything in my power to make sure you never see the moon's light again!" The color in Dyrrin's face drains as he instinctively takes a small step away from his superior, his ears flattening against the sides of his head.

"Y-yes, sir, Executioner Darkleer," he replies immediately with a respectful bow. "May I be excused?"

With a stiff nod from his superior, he's gone. I immediately turn my attention to Darkleer as he unlocks the cell. Unlike Ameera, he locks the door once he's stepped in. "Like I said," he calmly states, making his way across the cell towards me, "the Grand Highblood wishes to speak with you. You do not have a choice in the matter."

I try to get closer to Psii when I see Darkleer take out a set of handcuffs. I recognize those cuffs from my day terrors. They're a dull grey now, but I know that they won't stay that way. I remember the pain from the glowing hot iron against my wrists every time I moved. I don't want to EVER feel that pain outside of my darkest dreams.

"Signless," Darkleer says, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I-I don't believe you," I stutter.

"Equius would hate me if I hurt you." He grabs my arm. "Until I'm given the order to shoot, you're safe from me. Even then, I'll make it quick. You have my word." I'm still shaking but nod my head. Something in his eyes, he looks so much like Equius, puts me at ease. I believe him.

Then he moves to handcuff me and I start to panic. My heart races and it's hard to breath. I hold my shaking hands close to my chest. "N-no cuffs. I w-won't run. I promise. Pl-please, no cuffs."

"Hey, shh. You're okay," Psii whispers kissing my cheek. "Is that what you saw in your dream? Those cuffs?"

I can only nod and say, "Glowing and burning."

"No cuffs," I hear Darkleer say. "I apologize. I had no idea." He puts the cuffs away. "If you would please, follow me."

~Equius' POV~

I had followed my ancestor and guardian through the Capital Building to the throne room. This time, Darkleer stays by Signless, whom is still shaking. I turn my attention to the Grand Highblood as he stands and makes his way towards Signless.

"Why isn't he in cuffs?" he inquires, reaching for Signless.

Darkleer steps in the way, saying, "I didn't think it was necessary."

"He's a prisoner."

"I'm well aware of that," Darkleer almost growls. "He's injured. His companions are in a cell. His child is upstairs with his friend. Do you actually think he's going anywhere?"

The Grand Highblood looks to be at a loss for words. Anger and lust mixing in his eyes. Oh dear gods, is he actually turned on right now?! I roll my eyes as I place a small wireless communicator in my ear and move to stand beside Signless. My team should be close enough now for these to work. If not, I'll be able to talk to Signless until they arrive.

"Don't talk. Don't move," I whisper, loud enough that only he can hear me. I place a communicator in his ear as well, explaining, "This is a wireless communicator. When I turn it on, my team and I will be able to talk to you. Do not respond." I press a button on the communicator and fly to the other side of the room, beside the large throne. "Glance to the left if you can hear me." I smile when he quickly glances to his left.

My smile quickly fades when he doesn't look back. Instead, something holds his gaze. He looks almost confused. I follow his gaze and see Summoner standing by a column. Summoner looks angry as he steps out into the light.

"What did you do to him?!" he snaps.

"Nothing," the Grand Highblood laughs, "yet."

His bronze wings twitch in annoyance. "And what exactly do you mean 'yet'?"

Darkleer has a look that seems to ask the same thing plastered on his face. The Grand Highblood growls, "He's going to be executed in less than an hour. I was going to tell him what was going to happen."

"Red hot shackles," Signless says. "A few moments for final words." He looks to my ancestor. "Then he shoots me." He looks down to the floor. "I've seen it in my darkest dreams for as long as I can remember. Sorry if I took the fun out of your explaining it."

He sounded a bit bitter with that last statement. "Look up if you're okay," I say. He keeps his eyes on the floor, which worries me.

"The meteor is in the upper atmeowsphere," Nepeta calls over the coms, distracting me from the conversation across the room. "This is ArsenicCatnip, online. If you're online, sign on."

"CarcinoGeneticist, online."

"TwinArmageddons, online."

"ApocalypseArisen, online."

"TerminallyCapricious, motherfucking online."

"Hi, everybody! CuttlefishCuller, online."

"Why can't you two be serious? TentacleTherapist, online."

"Have you met them, my love? GrimAuxiliatrix, online."

"Rose, we're all fucked up here. Whatever. TurntechGodhead, online."

"CentaursTesticle, online." Dave laughs. "Really, Dave?"

"AdiosToreador, online. Karkat, uh, said that you guys might need some, uh, help keeping Gamzee from going rage mode."

"Have you dudes thought of just giving him apple juice? That keeps me calm. Or maybe some of Rose's booze?"

I roll my eyes at Dave's first comment. "You give him any form of alcohol, and I'll shoot you and him myself," I hiss at the second. "And, I understand Tavros joining, but why you?"

"I'm the Knight of Time. It's my job to keep you idiots from fucking up the timeline. I don't wanna see any dead Dave's lying around. Dead Dave's are the enemy, horse boy."

"Be nice, Strider! This is serious."

"Calm down, Kitkat. I'm just kidding."

~Signless' POV~

It's difficult to keep in my urge to laugh under control when I hear my descendant squeak, "We need to have a VERY serious discussion about the horns!"

"But they're so small and pokable," Dave whines.

My attention is dragged back to my current situation when an older purple blood enters the room, announcing that it was time for my execution. A few more guards rush in. I look to Darkleer as they surround me. He gives me a sympathetic look as I'm dragged away. I'm led through twisting halls and down a flight of stairs, to a large room. This room is lit by torches and a furnace. As I look around, I see weapons, tools, and scrap metal. This is a blacksmith's workshop.

I feel a choking fear take hold as I'm led to a man near the furnace. There are two pieces of metal, both connected to chains, waiting in the furnace. Realization dawned on me, in that moment, that these pieces of metal would soon become the burning manacles from my dreams.

My mind goes blank as the blacksmith bends the white-hot metal into the proper shape around my wrists.


	19. The Execution

**~Equius' POV~**

My concentration falters for a moment at the blood curdling sound of Signless' scream over the com, sending me falling to the ground in an empty hallway. I quickly pick myself up and continue flying back to the dungeon. My ears are ringing, from nerves and his scream. I can barely hear Karkat and Feferi trying to get information from me.

"I don't KNOW," I snap after a few others chime in. "I'm not with him."

"WHY THE FUCK AREN'T YOU WITH HIM?!" Karkat shouts.

"He's on his way to the dungeon to get efuryone else," Nepeta informs. "If you really want to know where they roar, Sollux can track them too."

I reach the metal door and teleport through it. I fly past the empty cells to the other end of the dungeon. Every cell is empty, every single one of them. "I believe we have a problem," I say fearfully. "They're not here!" The panic in my voice worries me. If I have a panic attack now, I might not be able to come out of it in time to help.

"Guys, shut up! You're all fur-eaking him out!" Nepeta shouts over the blur of everyone else. "Equius, do you remember the breathing exercise Psiioniic taught you?"

Even though she can't see it, I nod. "Y-yes."

"Calm down," she calmly states. "Take a second and just breathe. They're going to give him time to speak first. You can take a second to calm down."

I take a few deep, shaky breaths. In, two, three. Hold, two, three. Out, two, three. Repeat. After repeating this a few times, I'm calm enough to focus. "Where are they?"

"Execution grounds," Sollux replies. "Behind the Capital Building."

Running back towards the door, I inquire, "Does anybody know how I get there?"

"You might not wanna fuckin' listen to me," Gamzee starts, "but I know how to motherfucking get you there."

**~Signless' POV~**

I'm trying my best not to move my hands. Every move, every little twitch, every small flinch, lights my nerves on fire even more than they already are. It hurts so much!

"Signless," a heavily accented voice calls from the shadows. I know that voice.

"Summoner?" I say, pain in my voice, not looking up.

Over the coms, a small voice says, "That, uh, that's my ancestor. Y-you can trust him."

"You don't deserve this," Summoner says as he falls into step with me and the guards leading me through the Capital Building. "You know that, right?" I just look at him through bright red tears. "You've done nothing wrong. All of this is just Highblood throwing a tantrum."

I look back down to the glowing hot metal bent around my wrists. "I really wish everyone would stop saying that. Being a mutant is heresy. I should've died close to eight sweeps ago."

"Dear gods," he breaths. "You're only seven sweeps?" I nod. "How old is Equius?"

I smile a little at the thought of my child, "A little more than six sweeps."

"Grubs raising grubs," he mumbles, shaking his head. "And, if being a mutant really is heresy, almost a quarter of Alternia's population would be executed. We're everywhere, you know." His wings twitch, emphasizing his statement, as he pulls something out of his pocket. He holds up a silver necklace with an unusual symbol on it. I recognize the symbol from my descendant's shirt the few times I've had the privilege of seeing him. Sadness washes over me when I realize that I might never see him again, and that the final time he saw me, I was beaten and broken. "A few sweeps ago, a little girl wearing all red gave this to me. She said, 'Hold on to this until you come across it's owner.'" He places the necklace around my neck as he continues, "When I asked her what the symbol is, she told me that it's the zodiac 'Cancer', the sign of the signless. She said that it won't be an accepted sign for generations, but that it belongs to a child in my lifetime with no sign." We reach a large door and stop. He looks sadly at it. "At the time, I thought she was joking."

"What changed your mind?" I ask.

He laughs a little, saying, "A small devise on her arm beeped and she ran into a red light near the tree line laughing and saying, 'So much to do. It's not like I'm made of time.'" He turns to me. "Here we are, four sweeps later, and I've met a child with no sign and mutant blood."

"Her name is Aradia," I say quietly. "She led me to Equius." I glance down to the silver symbol, cool against my skin. "My descendant wears this symbol."

"Then it truly is yours," he states confidently before hugging me, careful of my injuries. "I wish you luck in the next life, brave child."

**~Equius' POV~**

"There should be a door just ahead," Gamzee says. "That'll take you out to the Execution Grounds on the executioner's end." Sure enough, a large door is just ahead. Next to the door is my ancestor.

"You don't have to hide, Equius," he says, sharpening a dark blue arrowhead. I freeze, not even breathing. After a moment of silence, Darkleer looks over to me. "I can see you."

Shifting back into visibility, I say, "I guess that was a waste of energy, then."

With a sigh, he returns the arrow to his quiver. "Go back to your room, Equius," he says. "You shouldn't see this." I rush forward and grip his arm, rough enough to bruise, as he moves to leave. He sends a hard glare at me, "Don't."

Glaring back, I remind, "You're not my guardian. He is, and I won't let you murder him."

"Hey, Equius," Aradia calls over the coms, "we're running late."

"What do you mean you're 'running late'?" I hiss, subconsciously turning my head slightly to the left.

"She means, we're gonna arrive when the arrow hits," Dave cuts in.

I turn invisible again as I teleport through the door and fly as high as I can. Within seconds, I'm a few hundred feet above the ground. "Signless, don't say anything. Just listen," I say. "I know you heard Dave and Aradia." I feel tears rolling down my cheeks. "Stall them. Please."

"How the fuck is he supposed to do that?" Karkat snaps. "It's an EXECUTION!"

"They can't give the wicked word to shoot until he's done with his motherfucking final words, Karbro," Gamzee informs.

I wrack my think pan for a solution. How can someone stall their own execution with words? Then it hits me, "You're a preacher," I breathe. "Just preach."

**~Signless' POV~**

Preach? What am I supposed to preach about? This is my final vision. What else _is_ there to preach about? As I'm led down a path to the pillar in the middle of the Execution Grounds, all I can think of is my family and the life I led. Their faces flash through my mind as the guards fasten the chains in place near the top of the pillar.

Despite the shear amount of pain from my injuries being pulled, I keep my head held high. I lock eyes with the Grand Highblood as he stands to pass judgement on me and my family. I look to the right and, just like in my vision, I see my family on their knees. It's different now, though. Disciple only has her hands bound, but Psii and Dolorosa are in different clothes. Dolorosa's wearing the uniform of a pleasure slave, an Orphaner's sign on the collar. Psii's in an outfit similar to his old uniform, only exposing far more skin. There's fear in his eyes instead of anger.

The Grand Highblood's booming voice pulls my attention back to him. "Signless, you've been found guilty of heresy. But first, allow me to enlighten you on the fate of your friends." He turns to them before continuing. "Disciple, you're banished to the Exile Caves. If you refuse, you'll be the next one with an arrow in your heart." She hisses loudly at him, expressing her disapproval, as she scoots closer to Dolorosa. "Psiioniic, congratulations. You've been drafted into the Imperial Navy." He flinches and tries to hide behind Dolorosa. "Tomorrow night, you'll be installed into the flagship of the Imperial Navy, the 'Condescension'." I growl at that. I had sworn to him that he would never be enslaved again, for as long as I breathe. "Dolorosa, you'll be given to Orphaner Dualscar. He likes exotic things, and I think he'd love to have a Rainbow Drinker at his every beck and call."

She glares at him, "I highly doubt that."

Ignoring her, he turns back to me, "Any last words?"

Nodding, I preach, "I have been peaceful. I have been kind. I only dare to speak what others have been dreaming for so long!" Flashes of my favorite visions cross my mind. "I had dreams, too. Dreams of what might have been. Where blood was simply blood, and all of us were equal." I look up and see Equius, hovering high above, watching me. I smile sadly. "If wishing for that is heresy," I look back to the Grand Highblood, "then, yes, I deserve to die." I remember taking care of Equius while he was healing. "I've seen acts of the most sublime kindness," Then, I remember how I found him, lying half naked, half dead, and broken in a field, "and the most vile cruelty. They say powerful beings find anger because they have no room for love. What made you so? Are you scared of change? Scared of those who are different? I realize, I am different from you. I have known feelings that none of you can ever hope to know!" I look to Disciple. "I have known the comradery of a friend who supported me against all odds." My gaze shifts to Dolorosa. "I have known the compassion of a guardian who took me in when no others would and raised me to dream and hope." I look back up to Equius. "I have been honored with the chance to care for the bravest child I have ever met and call him my child." My eyes finally lock with Psii's and my heart flutters. "I have known a love and passion that transcends definition." I look down at the carving in my chest. Like many of the other injuries, these cuts had reopened and are, once again, bleeding. "There's no use hiding it now, you can all see me for what I am. The signless. The sufferer. The mutant." I look out over the crowd. "My blood burns brightly for all to see!" I lock eyes with Summoner. He's hovering above a large rowdy group of lowbloods. "It is the flame of a revolution that you cannot ever hope to quell! My memory can be erased, but my ideals will never die!" I look over the excited group of highbloods on the other side of the Execution Grounds. "My mistake was believing that I could change a world _infected_ by _hate _and _corruption_!" At this point I was angry, and I turn my rage filled glare on the Grand Highblood. I swear to the gods, he flinches under my gaze. "You have taken the freedom from an INNOCENT Troll and turned his _blessings_ into a _curse_! The pity you've taken on Disciple will wound her. She's known the true love of a devoted family and you're forcing her to a life of solitude! Because of you an already traumatized child will lose his guardian, _AGAIN_! You're forcing a MOTHER to watch her son DIE! I see you for what you are, I always have! I thought I could CHANGE YOU, but I was a fool!" I pause to catch my breath, looking over the crowd. After a moment, my eyes land on Darkleer. "I am angry because I forgive you." The Grand Highblood gives Darkleer the signal to shoot. As he readies his bow and arrow, I finish my sermon.

**~Equius' POV~**

I start to panic when my ancestor draws his arrow back and takes aim. "I may be the biggest fool on Alternia," Signless says before closing his eyes, "but when I close my eyes I see a world where we all work together, and it's so beautiful."

I can't just stay here and watch him die. I REFUSE to watch him die! In a split-second, I teleport to a few feet away from my ancestor. I fly at and shoulder check Darkleer, messing up his aim. Unfortunately, I don't stop him from releasing the arrow.

It feels like everything is moving in slow motion as my eyes follow the arrow flying through the air.

Every lesson in telekinesis leaving my mind as I try to stop or redirect the lethal projectile.

My breath catches when the arrow strikes, sinking deep in Signless' flesh.

His pained scream is seemingly both deafeningly close and so far away.

I try to run to him, but Darkleer holds me back by my waist.

Darkness falls over the Execution Grounds as the Meteor slowly passes overhead, my teammates dropping to the ground from its surface.

Ten seconds too late.


	20. Safe

**~Equius' POV~**

"He's gone, Equius," Darkleer says as he struggles to keep his hold on me.

"NO!" I shout, fighting as hard as I can. "He can't be dead!"

"But he _is_ dead, Equius," he firmly states, turning me around to face him. He wipes away some of my tears as he continues, "The arrow may not have hit his heart like I had hoped it would, but a chest wound is a chest wound. You can't survive that."

"You're an idiot," I hiss a moment before finally being able to focus enough to teleport. Not even a second later, both Darkleer and I are much closer to Signless. "Does he look dead to you?"

In his shock, Darkleer's grip loosens enough for me to turn away and move to assess Signless' new injury. A few inches to the right, and the arrow would've missed him entirely. Instead, it's lodged in his chest, close to the grub scar his right side.

"E-equius?" Signless calls. The pain in his voice breaks my heart, but I force a smile in an attempt to comfort him, like he's done for me so many times.

"I'm right here," I whisper, gently brushing his bangs out of his face. "You're going to be okay. Feferi's almost here." He's having a hard time keeping his eyes open. "No, Signless, keep your eyes open. You need to stay awake. Please! Just stay awake a little longer for me. Okay? Can you do that?" He nods his head weakly.

"Equius," Feferi calls as she runs over. She's out of breath by the time she, Karkat, Dave, Gamzee, and Tavros reach us. "What am I working with?" she inquires as she carefully removes the arrow, earning a pained whimper from Signless. "I'm sorry."

"Punctured lung and second degree burns on his wrists," I inform.

"There's nothing you can do, young lady," Darkleer says. Any further explanation is lost to the sickle and broadsword held to his throat.

"Hey, Kitkat, how about you do some crowd control before someone actually drops dead," Dave suggests, nodding to the lowbloods. Each one of them looks like they're ready to kill, and Summoner's losing control of them.

Feferi turns around and huffs, "That attitude is absolutely unacceptabubble," she snaps before turning back around to heal Signless' injuries. "Is there any chance we can get him down?" she asks me.

I shake my head, "Not until that metal cools."

Tavros, who's been very quiet, says, "I could, uh, try t-to cool it." He moves his hand in a circular motion, drawing a strong gust of wind with it. "It might, uh, take a little while, though," he elaborates, once again looking down to his bright yellow shoes. "I'm n-not as powerful as John, but I, uh, I can do m-my best."

**~Karkat's POV~**

I look over my shoulder for a second to check on my ancestor while I try to calm the raging crowd of lowbloods. Feferi's doing her best to heal him, but it's going slowly. His injuries must be really bad. Tavros is hovering close to the glowing hot metal. He must be directing the wind to cool it. John's been trying to teach him when they meet in the dream bubbles, but progress has been slow. They have Tavros' Class to thank for that.

A hard shove from one of the lowbloods I'm trying to help calm down brings me out of my thoughts. Without hesitation, I shove back. Bad idea, very bad idea! The olive blood, about twice my size, retaliates by pushing me to the ground and kicking me. I growl as I focus on stopping her from kicking me again. I can feel her blood flowing in her veins. With a lot of concentration, I'm able to control the blood in her leg, effectively halting her assault mid-kick.

"Are you okay?" Summoner inquires when he reaches me. He helps me to my feet before noticing the frozen, and now panicking, olive blood in front of me. His eyes widen slightly in shock. "Are _you_ okay?"

"She won't be if she kicks me again," I mumble before releasing my hold on her. "You got this?" He nods slowly, shock written across his face, as I walk away to go check on Sollux's progress with the other three members of my ancestor's group. As I make my way over, I scan the area to find Aradia and Kanaya zipping through the crowd disarming lowbloods and highbloods alike. Rose is waiting for us back on the meteor. I have no fucking clue where Nepeta is, but I keep seeing flashes of green and blue throughout the crowd so I'm not too worried. He's still struggling with the cuffs on Psiioniic by the time I reach them. "Hey, Sol," I call. "What's taking so long?"

He glares at me, hissing, "Do you think that if I fucking knew, I'd still be struggling with this set?!" I take a step back, narrowly avoiding a blue spark of psionic energy aimed at me. He returns to his attempt at removing the cuffs. "I can't pick the lock. I can't break the damn things. I'm not going to try to blast them again. Any suggestions?"

"Have you tried breaking the lock from the inside?" I inquire, earning another glare.

"It shocked both of us when I tried," he huffs, still trying to pick the lock.

Over the com, Aradia's overly cheerful voice states, "Sounds like those cuffs were designed to restrict psionic energy. They were a really smart choice considering who they're trying to keep in check." She lands right behind us. "Karkat's idea should work, though. Just use blood instead of psionics."

I just shrug as I make a small cut across my palm. I let just enough of my blood spill into the locking mechanism for it to fill up before constricting the flow to that injury. A few minutes, and a lot of concentration, later, the lock breaks. The second the cuffs are off, Psiioniic takes off running towards Signless.

"There's a really pissed off Captor coming your way," Sollux calls over the coms as he moves to remove the other two sets of cuffs.

**~Equius' POV~**

I turn around just in time to see Psiioniic attack Darkleer. There's a red and blue flash before my ancestor cries out in pain. I rush to pull Psii off of him before any more damage is done.

"Psiioniic, calm down," I say, holding him back from my ancestor. He just growls at me as sparks fly from his eyes. "I know you want to hurt him for what he did, but he was just following orders." He still fights me. "Psii, stop it! Hurting Darkleer won't help Signless!" I snap. This gets his attention. "If you want to help him, go keep him awake. There's a greater chance of losing him if he passes out before Feferi's done healing him."

"Equius," Feferi calls, dragging my attention once again to her and my severely injured guardian. "There seems to be a bit of a problem."

Everything seems to freeze with that one little word. "What sort of problem?" I inquire, panic clear in my voice.

"Whale, you know how I can't heal around foreign objects?" She's still healing his other injuries as fast as she can, leaving only scars in their place, but she can't heal the injury that's killing him. "There's a piece of metal reel close to his lung. It's small, but it's in the way and I can't get it out."

"I told you, there's nothing you can do," Darkleer speaks up again. He's back on his knees, Dave's sword to his throat. "Just let him die in peace."

I glare at my ancestor. "If I had intended to let him die," I point up to the meteor moving across the sky at a snail's pace, "I would be up there designing a new fighting bot." I turn to Tavros, who's now trying to break the chains. "Tavros, what's the status on those chains?"

"They're n-not budging," he replies, sounding absolutely exhausted. "Kanaya, can your, uh, chainsaw cut metal?"

**~Karkat's POV~**

She laughs over the com, "Metal, wood, flesh," she lists. "My chainsaw can cut through anything, my dear."

"Karkitty," Nepeta calls from behind me. "You should go be with your ancestor. I can cover crowd control."

I force another Troll to drop their weapon before saying, "Why? Fef, Equius, and Psii are with him. He needs them, not me."

She huffs as she pushes me towards the small group gathered near Signless. "You're hiss descendant, hiss blood. He does need _you_!"

I take out my com and motion for her to do the same. "I can't, Nepeta."

"You can't," she glares at me, "or you won't?"

"I CAN'T!" I snap. "I can't stand to see him like that. It's too real. I always knew that he was executed but seeing him hurt like this. It's too real. Too much of a reminder that, if anyone had found out _my_ blood color, that could have been me with an arrow in my chest."

"And it scares you," she finishes for me. I can only nod. "Think of how it makes him feel. He's living hiss worst day terror right meow. He's over there, scared, and you're over here, working crowd control!" She puts her com back in and pushes me towards Signless. This time, instead of hesitating, I run to him.

By the time I reach them, Kanaya's cutting the chains. Sparks are flying as the metal teeth of the saw rapidly grind away at the metal chain holding Signless up. Equius and I are by his side in seconds, catching him as he falls.

"Careful!" Fef snaps.

Kanaya shrugs as her feet touch the ground. "It's not my fault nobody was holding him up. I was only in charge of cutting the chains, remember?"

I shake my head as we lower him gently to the ground. "You've been spending too much time with the humans. You're starting to pick up their sarcasm."

"You do know his mother is your ancestor, right?" Equius asks her, a little more irritated at her actions than me. He refuses to look away from Signless, watching every shaky breath he takes. When he receives no response, he says, "Psii, can you get the cuffs off him? I'm pretty sure my method would hurt him more."

**~Equius' POV~**

I cringe when Signless whimpers in pain as the now cooled metal is pulled away from his severely burnt flesh. Despite my urge to throttle whoever is responsible for his pain, I stay put. I do my best to keep him calm and awake while Feferi heals his wounds and Tavros cools his burns.

"Equius," Feferi whispers, almost as if she doesn't want anyone but me to hear, "I can't get this metal out and I can't heal burns."

I must look absolutely terrified, because Psiioniic tucks some of my hair behind my ear to get my attention. "What're you thinking about, kid?" he asks.

"I need to get him to my lab," I mumble. I look around for Dolorosa and Disciple, both of whom had joined the fray. "Aradia, round everyone up. We're leaving."

"Is it safe to move Signless?" she asks, flying around and literally picking up Disciple and Dolorosa.

"Nope," I reply shortly, shaking my head. "But it's safer than staying here."

"Rose," Dave says, "time to light it up."

I look up to the meteor just in time to see a light, bright as the sun, ignite on the surface of the meteor. There are screams of confusion and fear from the crowd. Even Psiioniic and Disciple flinch, despite knowing that the light is from a person and not the actual sun. When Aradia sets them down next to me, I take Dolorosa and Disciple's hands and concentrate on the bright spot on the meteor.

"Welcome to the meteor," I hear Rose say over the coms a few seconds later. "You must be Kanaya and Nepeta's ancestors. Lovely to meet you." I send Psiioniic next, despite his request to stay with Signless. "Psiioniic, correct? Lovely to meet you, as well. I heard that you've been through quite a trauma. If you ever need to talk, Kanaya and I are sort of the resident therapists. If you ever need to talk, about anything, feel free to come find one of us."

"Rose," I say over the com.

"Yes, Equius?" she responds almost immediately.

I teleport Signless, Feferi, and I to the surface of the meteor. I'm so exhausted I want to pass out, but I push myself to keep going as I lay Signless on an awaiting gurney. I look around, not recognizing this part of the meteor. "How close is my lab?" I ask. The rest of our team starts to arrive as she rushes to guide us through the compound to my lab. When we reach my lab, she starts running around the room, gathering most of the supplies I need. I dry my hands and pull on a pair of gloves.

"Is there anything else you need?" Rose asks.

I nod to a freezer across the room, "Blood," I say. "There should be five units of Karkat's blood in that freezer. I need two." I uncap the needle for an IV before telling Signless, "This is going to feel like a pinch. It's easier if you don't look at the needle."

**~Karkat's POV~**

Dave and I are the last two to arrive back on the meteor. Sollux had carried Nepeta up since Equius had to rush to get Signless to his lab. He set her down next to her ancestor before rushing to hug his own, yellow tears staining his cheeks. He was scared for Psii, just like I'm scared for Signless now.

After a moment of just making sure everyone was accounted for, Tavros rushes to assist Equius, Feferi, and Rose. Psiioniic tries to follow him, but Sollux and I rush to stop him. "I should be with Signless," he says, as we struggle to hold him back.

"You'll be in the way," Sollux hisses.

I take a different approach. "Psii, chill! Sol's right, you'll be in the way." I let go of my death grip on his arm and move to stand in front of him, blocking the door. "Feferi's our healer. Equius is our medic and the closest thing to a surgeon we have. Rose has studied and memorized every medical textbook she could alchemize. And Tavros is our resident burn expert, seeing as he's able to control and create fire. Signless is in good hands. All we can do is wait. Okay?" He nods once, allowing Sollux to guide him back to Dolorosa and Disciple. I turn to Aradia and ask, "How long until we're out of orbit?"

"A few hours," she hums.

"Fuck, that's too long," I grumble before she giggles. "What the fuck are you laughing about?"

"That's only if we let the meteor move on its own, silly. Me and Sollux could give it a push and we'll be on our way again in a few minutes."

"Hey, Sol," I call. "Any chance you're up for helping Aradia give this rock a push?"

"Sure, KK," he rolls his eyes as he makes his way back over to us. "But if I die the rest of the way this time, I'm going to haunt your ass. I hope you know that."

"Nobody's fucking dying!" I snap. My hands are starting to shake as my nervousness spikes to fear.

Sollux gently presses his forehead to mine, whispering, "It's okay bro. I was just joking. I'm sorry. It was a really bad joke. I'm not going to die. Signless isn't going to die. No one's going to die, KK." I nod, knowing I can trust him. If there's anyone in the universe that I can trust, it's my ancestor and my brother.

"Just be careful," I say quietly, "okay? No repeats! Promise me there won't be a repeat of last time."

He sighs, pulling me into his arms. He's so much taller than me that my head is tucked up under his chin. He nuzzles his cheek on the top of my head, saying, "I can't promise that, KK, but I'll do my best. How about you go sit with Gamzee or Dave until I get back, okay?"

I nod once before doing as he says. I go curl up with Gamzee and he flies off to a different part of the meteor with Aradia.

**~ Equius' POV~**

Signless is heavily sedated and open on the table by the time Tavros arrives. He quickly gathers the supplies he needs; saline, burn cream, gauze, etcetera. He pulls over a small table and lays out his supplies before rushing to wash his hands.

"H-how is he?" he asks.

I keep my eyes on my work, searching for the metal shard, as I answer, "He's stable at the moment. I'm having some difficulty finding the shard though."

As Tavros turns Signless' hand over to further examine the burns, he says, "Have you, uh, figured out w-what it is?"

"A piece of the arrowhead broke off and tore the lower lobe of his lung."

Feferi gasps almost excitedly. "Found it!" she exclaims, pointing it out to me.

The small piece of blue metal had lodged itself in the muscle just behind his lung. Carefully, I use a set of tweezers to pull the sharp metal out of his flesh. I glance over to Feferi, whom looked like she was about to pass out. She was focused on healing the tear in his lung, but I could tell she wouldn't last much longer at this rate. Despite my better judgment, I let her finish healing the tear in Signless' lung before I say anything.

"You should get some rest, Princess," I say, gently nudging her shoulder with my elbow.

"I'm fine," she insists.

"N-no you're not," Tavros quietly interjects. "You, uh, you look like you're about to, uh, pass out." He only looks up to meet her gaze for a moment before returning to carefully spreading the medicated ointment over Signless' burned wrist.

Rose makes her way back over to us with a suture kit. She places a hand on Feferi's shoulder, saying, "You really should rest before you burn yourself out."

Shaking her head, Feferi stubbornly says, "Signless still has injuries that need to be healed."

"The injury that was killing him _has_ been healed, dear. Equius and I can close this," Rose motions to the incision I had to make to remove the foreign body, "with some good old-fashioned sutures and you can heal it right up later. After you've regained your strength."

"But-"

"No buts. If you simply can not bring yourself to rest, then go tell everyone that Signless will be okay. Can you do that for me?"

"I guess," she surrenders.

I begin to clean the wound before closing it as she leaves my lab to inform everyone else.

**~Karkat's POV~**

Gamzee was having a hard time keeping me from panicking and Dave was no help at all. So now Sollux's arms are wrapped around me as we wait for any news on Signless' condition. He's doing his best to calm me down, despite the fact that he's also freaking out. We had determined a while ago that we are, in fact, brothers. Signless and Psiioniic have and will only ever have one matesprit, eachother. Neither one of them ever had a kismesis. It took Dave and Rose explaining what the humans call a "family tree" to us for us to figure it out. So, in a way, Signless is his ancestor, too.

I'm pulled away from my thoughts by a door opening and closing. I look over to see Feferi, looking absolutely exhausted, walk over to where Psiioniic was sitting by himself. He had decided about twenty minutes ago that he wanted to be alone until he knew Signless was okay. Feferi places her hand on Psii's shoulder as she crouches down beside him. She says something with a tired smile on her face. I can't quite hear her, but whatever she says earns her a big hug. She motions to me and Sollux as she says something else. When Psii finally lets her go, she stands and walks over to us.

"How is he?" Sol asks.

"He's still heavily sedated," she says as she sits on her knees in front of us, "but he'll be okay. We got the metal out and I was able to heal the tear in his lung. I unfortunately didn't have enough energy left to heal the incision Equius had to make to remove the metal, so he'll have some stitches in that area. Tavros was treating his burns when I left, too." She brings the back of her hand to her mouth and yawns before she continues. "His other injuries are healed. The shallower ones are completely gone, but the deeper ones scarred. The burns on his wrists and the incision on his side are both going to scar as whale." She looks from me to Sollux and back, asking, "Do either of you have any questions?" When we both shake our heads she stands. "Okay, I'm going to go tell Dolorosa and Disciple."


End file.
